The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Alabama
UAB Falls 10-7 To Alabama Tuesday Night
3/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 24, 2009
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team saw an early lead slip away Tuesday night against 24th-ranked Alabama in a 10-7 loss at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
The Blazers built a 5-0 advantage through the top of the fourth inning, but Alabama tallied 10 runs from the bottom of the fourth through the seventh inning to come from behind.
UAB stole seven bases in the game, including a career-high four stolen bases by Nick Crawford. Brint Hardy, who entered the game ranked third in the nation, added two steals to bring his season total to 20. The Blazers have now stolen 51 bases as a team through 21 games.
Digger Towe led UAB at the plate with four hits for the second straight game, while Luke Stewart and Allen Aubin also added multiple hits. Josh Rutledge led Alabama offensively with three hits and four RBI.
Austin Graham earned the win for the Crimson Tide, pitching 2.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, and Nathan Kilcrease picked up the save. Tristan Farrell took the loss in relief for UAB.
With the loss, UAB falls to 11-10 on the season. Alabama improves to 16-7 with the win.
The Blazers and Crimson Tide are scheduled to meet again Wednesday night with a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. The game will air live in Birmingham on WSPZ-AM 690.
The first 200 fans at Wednesday's game will receive a free UAB Baseball collectible pen. Blaze, the UAB mascot, will be on hand, and the game will also feature prize giveaways throughout.
In Tuesday's game, UAB took a 2-0 lead through two innings on a pair of RBI doubles from Stewart and Aubin, and the Blazers extended that lead to 3-0 in the third on an RBI single from Towe. Crawford plated two more runs with a single in the top of the fourth as UAB opened up a 5-0 lead.
Alabama then out-scored the Blazers 10-2 from that point on. The Crimson Tide managed two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth before a five-run sixth put them over the top.
Alabama scored those sixth-inning runs on an RBI double from Alex Kubal, an RBI groundout from Taylor Dugas, a run-scoring single from Rutledge and a two-RBI single from Brandon May.
The Blazers managed their final two runs in the top of the sixth inning, including Cody McMurry's team-leading sixth home run of the year.
James Oliver started the game on the mound for UAB, held Alabama scoreless through the first three frames and wound up with two runs charged to him through 3.2 innings of work. The Blazers then went to Nick Graffeo out of the bullpen, followed by Farrell. Alabama used four pitchers on the night.
Each pitching staff struggled with control as they combined to walk 15 batters in the game. Stewart and Hardy walked twice for UAB, while Kent Matthes and Wes Henderson walked twice for Alabama.
