The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Louisiana-Monroe
UAB Withstands Late Run, Tops ULM 4-3
3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Final Stats (PDF)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB baseball team dealt with a late surge from Louisiana-Monroe on Friday night but held onto a 4-3 victory. The Blazers won their fourth Friday game of the season in as many games to move to 9-5. The Warhawks fall to 4-11 this season.
UAB totaled eight hits on the night, the fourth time they have reached that mark this season and the first in the month of March.
“I thought two of the bigger moments in the game were both defensive plays,” said Blazers head coach Brian Shoop. “With all the other things, I thought it was two defensive plays that you could forgot about, but you don’t win without them.”
The first play Shoop referenced was a catch by Riley McCown in the top of the fourth. Johnny DeLaCruz got a hold of a ball that carried to deep right field to begin the inning. McCown did a magnificent job of tracking the ball down to prevent a hit.
The Blazers rallied around that play as they plated a run in the bottom half of the inning. McCown kept the inning alive with a two-out single up the middle while facing a 1-2 count that moved Zack Davis to third base. Stephen Dobbs was then hit by a pitch to load the bases and a wild pitch scored Davis.
UAB exploded in the bottom of the sixth inning with three runs on four hits. A hit by Carter Pharis followed by a double from Thomas Johns scored the first run of the frame. Dobbs delivered a liner past the second baseman two batters later to score Johns and increase the lead to three. Tactical base running by the Blazers to move Antonio Ralat to second on a stolen base with two outs led to a run when Price Visintainer single to right field. The Blazers were ahead 4-0 at this point.
Starter Garrett Whitlock then stepped out of the game going into the seventh inning and made way for Carson Jones who went rattled off a quick three outs.
The Blazers ran into some resistance from the Warhawks in the top of the eighth. Austin Thomas came on to pitch for the Green & Gold to start the frame. ULM scored two runs when the first out was recorded. A single by Chad Bell and followed by a fly out to advance Turner Francis to third base and put runners on the corners.
Thomas Lowery then came into the action for UAB. Cade Stone swung at the first pitch he saw against the senior pitcher and singled on the play to score Francis. Spencer Hemphill then singled but a potential extra-base hit to score multiple runs was stopped by Ralat at shortstop. The Blazers sophomore made a diving stop to limit the play to a single. Lowery responded with a swinging strikeout on five pitches in the next at-bat to get out of the inning with the lead at 4-3.
Lowery went through the ninth inning easily. The lefty only needed nine pitches to finish off the final three batters in order and secure the win. Lowery’s third save of the season is also the 18th of his career. The senior lefty made his 76th career appearance today, tying Michael Stallings for the fourth-most in school history.
Whitlock, who improved to 3-0, finished with a line of six innings, one hit, no runs, five walks, and three strikeouts. He departed after exactly 100 pitches and his ERA now stands at a Conference USA best 0.57.
Hicklen continued to up his batting average. He finished the game 2-for-4, has seven hits in his last 11 at-bats and is now hitting .304 on the season.
Pharis joined in having a multi-hit game. The sophomore went 2-for-3 and has now scored in three straight games. Pharis is batting 5-for-7 across Wednesday’s doubleheader and today.
“Brewer is starting to hit for us,” said Shoop. “Him and Coach Perry Roth have spent a lot of time together the last week. Carter is starting to swing it. That’s encouraging.”
Tomorrow’s game at Regions Field begins at 1 p.m. and will feature UAB’s Ryan Ruggles versus ULM’s Keegan Curtis.
For more information on the UAB baseball team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_Baseball). For more on all Blazer sports teams follow the official social media accounts of UAB Athletics on Twitter (@UAB_Athletics), on Facebook (Facebook.com/UAB.Blazers), on Instagram (@uab_athletics) or on Snapchat (@uabathletics).
