The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Houston
Houston Deals UAB 5-1 Loss In Conference USA Opener
3/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 20, 2009
HOUSTON, Texas -- Brint Hardy tallied a pair of hits and drove in UAB's only run as the Blazers lost 5-1 in Friday's baseball series opener at Houston.
UAB collected nine hits in the game, but the Blazers couldn't string enough of them together to do much damage in the first Conference USA game for both teams.
Houston starter Wes Musick pitched seven strong innings to earn his first win of the year on the mound. The left-hander allowed eight hits but surrendered only one run while striking out 11 batters.
"We have to give Houston a lot of credit," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "Wes Musick pitched well. He's a preseason all-conference player, and I thought he threw three pitches well tonight, and he threw a lot of strikes."
Beau Pender suffered his first loss of the year for UAB. Pender allowed five runs -- three earned -- and struck out six batters in 6.2 innings of work.
Houston jumped on the scoreboard first Friday with a two-out score in the bottom of the first inning. Chase Dempsay was in motion from first base on the pitch and Caleb Ramsey doubled to left field to score him.
The Cougars tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the second. UAB aided Houston with two errors, a walk, a hit batter and a wild pitch as the Cougars extended their lead to 4-0 with only one hit in the inning.
UAB managed its only run of the day in the third inning. Allen Aubin led off the inning with a double and later came home to score on an RBI single from Hardy.
The Blazers' next best scoring chance came in the sixth inning. Singles from Cody McMurry and Andrew Manning put two runners on with one out, but Musick struck out the next two batters to end the threat.
UAB (10-8, 0-1 C-USA) and Houston (5-15, 1-0 C-USA) will be back in action Saturday with the second game of the weekend series. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT at Houston's Cougar Field. Shay Crawford is slated to take the mound for the Blazers against Michael Goodnight for Houston.
"We'll look to get back on track tomorrow," Shoop said. "We need Shay to throw well for us, and we need to have more competitive at-bats."
In Friday's game, Musick exited after the seventh inning, and Frank Corolla came on to pitch the final two frames for Houston. Corolla allowed just one hit and struck out five more batters.
Houston added its fifth run in the seventh inning when Zak Presley singled, stole second and third and then scored on a squeeze bunt from Caleb Ramsey.
Ramsey notched two hits and drove in two runs to lead Houston, while Presley also picked up a pair of hits for the Cougars.
Robert Brewster came out of the UAB bullpen to pitch the final 1.1 innings, holding Houston without a run on one hit. Offensively, eight different players recorded a hit in the game for the Blazers.
