The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Houston
Blazers Fall 6-5 In Game Two Of Houston Series
3/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 21, 2009
HOUSTON, Texas -- The UAB baseball team suffered a 6-5 loss Saturday night in the second game of this weekend's three-game series at Houston.
Luke Stewart hit his fifth home run of the season in the loss, and Jonathan Merritt piled up three hits for UAB offensively. Jamal Austin and Brint Hardy also had a pair of hits for the Blazers.
Taylor White logged two hits, including a home run, for Houston. The Cougars managed to win despite being out-hit 9-6 by UAB.
The Blazers took a 4-3 lead in the top of the sixth inning, but Houston responded with two runs in the bottom of the frame to regain a lead it would not lose. After the Cougars tacked on an insurance run in the seventh, UAB plated a run on a Brint Hardy RBI single in the eighth. The Blazers then put the tying run on in the ninth via a two-out walk by Stewart but couldn't push the tying run across.
Donnie Joseph earned the win for Houston after pitching 3.0 innings in relief and allowing one run. Chase Dempsay picked up the save after retiring the only batter he faced to close out the game. Shay Crawford surrendered five runs in 5.1 innings to take the loss for UAB.
With the loss, UAB drops to 10-9 and 0-2 in Conference USA, while Houston improves to 6-15 and 2-0 in the league. The teams are slated to meet again Sunday in the series finale at Noon CT at Houston's Cougar Field.
Houston built a 3-0 lead in Saturday's game with an unearned run in the second inning and two runs in the fifth on a Blake Kelso RBI infield single and a sacrifice fly from Dempsay, who played the entire game in right field before moving in to pitch with two outs in the ninth.
UAB, which had struggled offensively through five innings against Houston starter Michael Goodnight, came alive in the sixth inning against Cougar reliever William Kankel. Cody McMurry led off the sixth with a walk, and Andrew Manning reached on an error to put two runners on for Stewart. The junior first baseman followed with a towering shot to right field to tie the game at 3-3.
The Blazers then strung together three more hits with two outs to bring another run home. Austin singled, moved to third on a Merritt single and came home to score on a bunt single from Nick Crawford.
The UAB lead, however, was short-lived. A Codey Morehouse RBI single in the bottom of the sixth knotted the game at 4-4, and a bases-loaded wild pitch then gave the Cougars the lead back at 5-4.
A solo shot off the bat of White in the seventh inning extended the Houston lead to 6-4 before Hardy's RBI single in the eighth. That eighth-inning run was all the Blazers could manage off of Joseph, who took the mound with two outs in the sixth.
UAB had other scoring opportunities but left 12 runners on base in the game. The Blazers stranded runners in scoring position in the first, second and fourth innings.
