The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Tulane
UAB Baseball Rides Seven-Run Inning To Series-Clinching Win
5/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Propelled by a seven-run sixth inning Sunday, the UAB baseball team won its second straight Conference USA series with a 10-6 victory over Tulane in the Blazers' final home game of the season at Young Memorial Field.
UAB (27-23, 10-11 C-USA) racked up 13 hits, seven of them in the big sixth inning, and third baseman Andrew Manning ignited the rally with a three-run homer as the Blazers again moved a game ahead of Tulane (30-22, 9-12 C-USA) in the league standings.
UAB will go into the season's final series next week at Rice tied with East Carolina for fifth place, but there is still plenty of room for movement with just three games separating the third-place team (Memphis) from the ninth-place squad (UCF). The top six teams in the final standings will qualify for the conference tournament.
Things didn't look promising early for UAB against Tulane starter Matt Petiton, but the Blazers forced the left-hander from the game with one out in the sixth and then went to work against the Green Wave bullpen.
UAB trailed 5-1 with two outs in the bottom of the sixth when Manning changed the game with one swing. The Blazers put two runners on before Manning sent a Preston Claiborne pitch deep to right center field to bring UAB within a run at 5-4, and the two-out scoring wasn't even close to finished.
Manning was the first of six consecutive batters to reach base, including run-scoring singles from center fielder Jamal Austin, shortstop Jonathan Merritt, first baseman Luke Stewart and designated hitter John Frost, as UAB took its first lead of the game at 8-5.
"That was our biggest two-out rally of the year, and it couldn't have come at a more important time," Shoop said. "When we pinch hit Andrew in yesterday's game, that home run was exactly what I envisioned in my mind; it just came one day later. He's had a tough year, and it's really thrilling to see him come through with a major hit like that for us."
While the offensive explosion in the sixth put UAB over the top, it was the pitching performance of reliever Ryan Woolley that kept the Blazers in the game through the middle innings.
Woolley came out of the bullpen with one out and two runners on in the fourth. After a double from Tulane designated hitter Gunner Wright scored those two, the UAB right-hander allowed only two more on single runs in the fifth and eighth innings. He surrendered three hits and struck out five, pitching all the way until the ninth when he turned the ball over to closer Nick Graffeo.
"Ryan is a guy that has tremendous stuff, and he was on today," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "That's what the scouts have been looking for from him. That's a guy that can pitch in pro ball."
UAB tacked on two more runs in the fifth when Austin singled to score right fielder Ryan Ussery from third and then got caught in a rundown, allowing Manning to score also.
Austin went 3-for-5, while second baseman Nick Crawford and Frost also recorded a pair of hits. Crawford's both went for extra bases on a double and a triple.
Nine different Blazers hit safely in the game, while Tulane batters managed only five total hits and just one after the fifth inning. Wright drove in three of the Green Wave runs, and left fielder Blake Crohan hit a solo homer in the eighth.
Catcher Digger Towe belted a fourth-inning solo shot for UAB, accounting for the only Blazer run before the seven-run sixth. Towe, who made his return to the starting lineup as the designated hitter earlier in the week, saw his first action behind the plate in two months since his injury in mid-March.
Woolley earned his third win of the year for UAB and his first since April 3 at UCF. Claiborne took the loss for Tulane after being charged with four runs in a third of an inning in his second appearance of the weekend.
UAB travels to Houston this week to face league-leading Rice for three games to close the regular season. The series gets underway Thursday at 6:30 p.m. CT at Rice's Reckling Park.
