The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Charlotte
UAB Drops Saturday Contest to Charlotte
4/29/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Final Stats (PDF)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB baseball team lost the middle game of its weekend series versus Charlotte on Saturday afternoon 17-5 at Young Memorial Field. The Blazers record slips to 19-23 and 7-13 in Conference USA and the 49ers stand at 26-17 and 13-7 in conference.
“When you’re down 7-0 when you come up to bat in the second inning, it’s a hard hole to come out of,” said head coach Brian Shoop. “We did though and got it within striking distance. It was 8-5 and we had a shot at three runs. We’re going to have to win some games though when Thomas Lowery doesn’t pitch.”
Charlotte opened the game with back-to-back home runs to score two runs to lead off the game. The 49ers followed with five runs in the next frame as they started with a 7-0 advantage.
The Blazers scored one run in the bottom half of the second. Colton Schultz notched his fourth hit in as many at-bats this series and his second double to put a runner in scoring position. Riley McCown then scored Schultz the next time up to make it a 7-1 game.
Charlotte would quickly open it back to a seven-run lead as Zach Jarrett belted his second home run of the game in the top of the third inning.
The Blazers kept battling though and scored two runs in the third inning to cut it to 8-3. Carter Pharis had an RBI groundout to score Blake Johnson from third base and then Pierce Ressmeyer hit a shot to center field and a diving attempt by Reece Hampton trickled by the 49ers outfielder and let Ressmeyer round to third base while Brewer Hicklen scored from second base on the play.
The Green & Gold added two more in the fifth frame. Blake Johnson began the frame with a walk and was finally brought home with two outs when Pharis’ chopper to third base bounced out of the glove of Jackson Mims and trickled into the outfield. Pharis then scored on a single by Ressmeyer to bring the score to 8-5.
The 49ers added insurance runs with the bases loaded in the seventh inning. A double by Logan Sherer plated two visitor runners and Charlotte added one more on a throwing error to lead 11-5.
Zach Jarrett hit his third home run of the game in the top of the eighth inning to extend Charlotte’s lead to 13-5. Two more runs would score in the inning and they followed with another pair of runs in the ninth inning to make it 17-5.
Charlotte held the advantage in the game in hits (16-11) and committed no errors to the Blazers one.
Tanner Graham was charged with his third loss of the year. The UAB starter threw one-plus inning and gave up three hits, five runs, two walks, hit two batters, and struck out one batter.
Josh Maciejewski was credited with the win for Charlotte. He now sits at 5-3 this season after throwing six innings with five hits, five runs, two walks, and three strikeouts. He also hit one batter.
Ressmeyer had three hits on the day with two RBI. It is the fifth time in the last six games that the senior catcher has recorded two-or-more hits. Ressmeyer is also 5-for-8 against Charlotte over the first two games.
Pharis finished 2-for-5 with one run, one double, and two RBI.
Schultz finished the day 1-for-3 as he improved to 4-for-6 this series with a pair of runs and two doubles.
The two teams will return to the diamond for the rubber match at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. Carson Jones will be on the bump for the Blazers for his second career start while the 49ers will throw Matt Brooks.
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).
