The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Samford
Samford Downs Baseball, 11-0
4/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2012
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ----The UAB baseball team held Samford to six hits, but the home Bulldogs maximized their opportunities with runners on base to clip the Blazers, 11-0, at Joe Lee Griffin Field on Wednesday night.
The loss dropped UAB to 21-17 overall for the season, while Samford improved to 22-15.
Freshman Alex Luna (1-1) made his first collegiate start on Wednesday at Samford and surrendered just one hit in three-plus innings of work. Unfortunately, the lone hit was a three-run homer to Phillip Ervin to cap off a four-run bottom of the third.
Luna surrendered five runs, all earned, off only one hit with a career-best three strikeouts. The right-hander also walked two and hit a pair of Bulldogs as he was saddled with the loss.
Samford tacked on four more runs in the bottom half of the fourth to hold an 8-0 advantage and put the game out of reach.
Harry Clark was the main bright spot in the Blazer lineup, tying a career-high with three hits, including a double. Clark's last three-hit game came against Houston nearly two years to the day, on April 30, 2010.
A total of seven pitchers were used by UAB on Wednesday, closed out by lefties David Hayes and Tom Sawyer who each threw scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
Samford's Gil Walker (1-1) earned the victory out of the bullpen. The righty tossed 4.0 shutout innings and gave up only four hits and struck out two.
The Blazers continue their stay in Birmingham with a three-game series this weekend, stepping out of conference play to the host Gardner-Webb. The series starts on Friday with first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m. CT.
