The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Kennesaw State
Stewart Continues Hot Hitting In UAB Win At Kennesaw State
3/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 23, 2010
KENNESAW, Ga. -- Luke Stewart hit two home runs for the second straight game as the UAB baseball team ran its winning streak to four games with a 4-1 victory over Kennesaw State at Stillwell Stadium.
Five UAB pitchers combined to limit Kennesaw State to three hits and allowed only the first Owl batter of the game to cross the plate.
After a leadoff home run in the first inning from Tyler Stubblefield, Kennesaw State went without a hit against UAB pitching until there were two outs in the sixth. Blazer starter Shay Crawford and reliever Ben Bullard faced the minimum from the second inning through the fifth, allowing only one base runner during that stretch, which was later erased on a double play.
Bullard was credited with his third win of the season as UAB (11-7) picked up its second victory of the year over the Owls (9-13). Kennesaw State starter Catlan Kendrick took the loss.
Tristan Farrell, Blake Huddleston and Nick Graffeo combined on the final four scoreless innings with Graffeo pitching a three-up, three-down ninth inning to earn the save.
"Our pitching staff was great today, and we played a clean game," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "Kennesaw State is a team that has beaten Tennessee and Georgia, so to beat them twice this season is good."
UAB batters worked the count Tuesday against Kendrick, fouling balls off and forcing him to throw more than 100 pitches in his five innings. The Blazers got to Kendrick for single runs in each of his final three frames.
Nick Crawford plated Harry Clark with an RBI groundout for an unearned run in the third inning to put UAB on the board, while Stewart's solo homer in the fourth and John Frost's RBI double in the fifth pushed UAB's lead to 3-1. The hits by Stewart and Frost both came after extended at-bats against Kendrick.
"It's great to see Luke hitting this way; we just need to have some people on base when he bats," Shoop said. "We had one inning with three eight-pitch at-bats in a row. We have to do that more often and more consistently."
Stewart homered again in the eighth inning for his fourth long ball in the past two games as he ran his career total to 34, the second-highest mark in school history.
Tuesday's game was the only road contest in a nine-game stretch for UAB, which returns to Birmingham to host Southern Miss this weekend in its opening Conference USA series. Game one is slated for Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT at Young Memorial Field.
