Blazers Troubled by Errors in American Championships Opener

Thursday, May 21

Clearwater, FL

4:25 p.m.

UAB

31-25

(5) Memphis

24-32

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Memphis	0	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	7	10	0
UAB	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	5

Photo by: Parker S. Freedman

Blazers Troubled by Errors in American Championships Opener

5/21/2026 8:05:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

CLEARWATER, Fla. - UAB fell in its American Conference Championships opener 7-3 to No. 5 Memphis. The Blazers (31-26) struggled on defense with a season-high five errors. A pair of big innings by the Tiger offense powered Memphis (25-32) to the second-round victory.

The Blazers jumped on the board first in the opening frame after getting out of a jam in the top of the first. Kevin Hall Jr. singled to lead off the inning, followed by a walk to Landon Beaver and Alex Dupuy reaching on a hit by pitch. Brady Waugh took advantage of the loaded bases, grounding up the middle to drive in Hall Jr. and Beaver.

Memphis immediately responded in the top of the second, scoring four runs to take a lead they would hold for the remainder of the game. Shane Cox reached on a leadoff single, then Michael Gupton got aboard via a catcher's interference by UAB. A pair of groundouts moved the runners over, scoring Cox on a Tyler Harrington ground ball to second. Marcus Smith and Freddy Rodriguez capped the inning with back-to-back homers to take a two-run lead.

Hall Jr. collected his second hit of the night to lead off the third inning, but three straight flyouts stranded him on first to end the inning.

UAB did chip away at the Tiger lead in the fourth beginning with a Waugh single to lead off the inning. Andrew Hunt immediately drove in Waugh with a double down the left field line. The Blazers would regret a decision to send Hunt on a steal attempt of third base as Austin Pierzynski singled after Hunt was caught stealing.

The Tigers' starting pitcher, David Case, shut down the Blazers for his final four innings, not allowing a hit and going through the order nine-up-nine down from the fifth through seventh innings.

Memphis added onto its lead in the seventh inning with back-to-back singles and an error on a dropped third strike to load the bases. James Smith IV grounded hard to third base, scoring Rodriguez on the play. The throw from Dupuy went awry into right field, allowing Javon Hernandez to score and Brady McAbee to reach third base. McAbee scored on the next play, a groundout to short by Cox. All three runs scored were unearned on the two Blazer errors.

After eight innings from Case, the Tigers brought in Carson Fair to close the game. Fair struck out the first two UAB batters before Wesley Helms extended the Blazers' hope with a single dropped into left field. The life did not last long when pinch-hitter Max Price grounded out to third.

NOTES

The Blazers' five errors were the most in a game this season.
Hall Jr. stole his team-high 19th base of the season.

The Blazers will play for their season tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. CT, taking on the winner of No. 2 East Carolina and No. 3 Rice. Following Thursday's loss, every game UAB plays will be an elimination game.

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