The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Baseball Notes For The Auburn Game
3/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 19, 2002
THIS WEEKEND'S
SCHEDULE:
Tue. 3/19?????? UAB at
(#19) AUBURN (6 pm CST)
Fri. 3/22???????? UAB
at CHARLOTTE (6 pm EST)
Sat. 3/23??????? UAB
at CHARLOTTE (2 pm EST)
Sun. 3/24?????? UAB at
CHARLOTTE (1 pm EST)
?
THE BLAZERS: Are 8-11
overall (1-2 C-USA) and coming
off a big 6-2 win over No. 8 Houston Sunday (Mar. 17) at Young Memorial Field.?
THE TIGERS: Auburn
is 17-5 overall (2-1 SEC) and
ranked 19th in this week's Baseball Weekly /ESPN Coaches' poll,
27th in this week's Collegiate Baseball Division I poll and 18th in the
National Collegiate Baseball Writers' (NCBWA) poll.
STARTING PITCHER:? The
projected UAB starter for Tuesday's game is Ryan Huffman (Fr.-RS, RHP, 1-1, 4.61 ERA).
AUBURN STARTER:? The
Tigers' projected starter is Mike Mueller (Jr., RHP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA).?
THE UAB-AUBURN SERIES: Has been dominated by the Tigers,? Auburn leads 37-9 overall, dating back
to the 1979 season (UAB's first year of intercollegiate play).? The Tigers currently have a 10-game
overall win streak in the series and have won the last five meetings on the
Plains, dating back to 1997 (UAB's most recent win in Auburn was a 5-3
decision on Apr. 30, 1996).
LAST TIME: Scott Schade drove in four runs and Trent Pratt three and Javon Moran
went 4-4 with three runs scored as the Tigers mauled UAB 13-1? two weeks ago at Young Memorial Field (Mar.
5). Auburn starter Arnold Hughey got
the win, while UAB starter Jon Burgett allowed eight runs (only two earned) in defeat.? Ryan Huffman made an appearance in the Mar. 5 game, working three
and 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (all earned) on five hits, with one walk
three strikeouts.
FOUR IN A ROW: Including the three-game series with Houston last
weekend (Mar. 15-17), Tuesday's Auburn game will the fourth in a row for
UAB vs. a ranked team.
CALL HIM
"GINO": Larry Giangrosso (UAB '75) is in his third season as head coach of the UAB
Blazers.? The Birmingham
native? is 61-73 (.455)? overall at UAB.? Giangrosso was named head coach at UAB
on June 16, 1999.? Prior to that,
he spent nine seasons as head coach at Central Alabama Community College
(1991-99), where he posted a
320-183-1 (.636) record and led his teams to a state championship (1998) and
three conference titles. Giangrosso also had a very successful stint as head
coach at Birmingham's W.A. Berry High School (1979-90), where he had a 254-115 (.688) record and led the
Bucs to the Alabama 4A state title (1981), as well as five regional and four
Jefferson County championships.
A PIONEER: Coach Larry Giangrosso played baseball for UAB in the mid 1970s, prior to the establishment of the
NCAA-sanctioned athletics program in 1978.? The team competed essentially as a club program (it was
administered by the school's Physical Education Department), but the
baseball was definitely real -- the team competed against many of the local and
state colleges (e.g. Birmingham- Southern) that UAB faces now (Gino has the
letter jacket to prove it).
1K CLUB: Counting his high school, junior college and four-year
collegiate head coaching experience, UAB Head Coach Larry Giangrosso worked his 1000th game as a head coach vs. Auburn on
Mar. 5.
IN THE COACHING BOX(es): At third base, Larry Giangrosso, at first base, Frank Walton.
BENCH COACH(es): Lee Hall, Shane Hopkins.
YOUNG MEMORIAL? FIELD:? Jerry D. Young Memorial Field is in its 19th season as the Blazers' home
field (the program called historic Rickwood Field home from 1979-83). The
Blazers have a 331-202-1 (.621)
all-time record at Young Memorial Field (1984-? ) and are 8-7 at home in 2002.
IN PLAY:? The 30-foot
high "batter's eye" wall in center field, which was once located behind the outfield fence,
is now actually part of the fence and is in play (this became effective at the beginning of the 2001
season after the wooden fence replaced a chain link fence as part of general
stadium renovations).
HOUSE HURTING: Not only did the Blazers temporarily lose the
services of freshman outfielder and leading hitter Chad House (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS) when he
severely bruised his knee in a collision with the outfield fence in the second
inning of Friday's game vs. Houston (Mar. 15), House also lost a 10-game
hitting streak (he batted once in the first inning and was retired on a fly
ball to right field.?
PRIOR TO THAT: House was leading the Blazers with a .396 batting
average, he had a team-high 10-game hitting streak that? dated back to the Mississippi State
game on Feb. 22, and was leading?
the team in hits (21) and multiple-hit games (7).? He also had a .492 on-base percentage,
and had reached base 53 percent of the time when leading off an inning (he has
been the Blazers' leadoff hitter in 12 of 17 games he has appeared in to
date).
HOUSE'S STATUS: Day-to-day, but he is unlikely to play vs. Auburn
Tuesday.
LYON MAKES IT COUNT: His season batting average is a respectable .250,
and he has appeared in nine games this season (starting five).? At first glance, senior outfielder Eric
Lyon wouldn't appear to be one
of the most dangerous hitters in the UAB lineup (he is one of the few left-handed
hitters), but over the team's past five games he is hitting? .250 (again, good but not spectacular)
with two doubles, a triple, a home run and a team-high nine RBI.? The triple came n the bottom of the
eighth vs. Connecticut (Mar. 10) and drove in three runs, including the
game-winner.? He had a pair of
two-RBI doubles vs. Alabama State (Mar. 12) and his one hit in the Houston
series was a two-run homer in the first inning of Sunday's game (Mar. 17)
that got the Blazers off to a good start in a 6-2 win over the Cougars.?
SUNDAY DRIVER: Lyon hit both the game-winning triple vs.
Connecticut (Mar. 10) and the two-run homer vs. Houston (Mar. 17) on Sunday
afternoon.
FIRST AT-BAT POWER: Junior outfielder Mitch Jones?
(Chelsea, Ala./Chelsea HS) leads the Blazers with three home runs
through 19 games, all three have come in his first at-bat of the game,
including a pinch-hit game-winner in the bottom of the ninth vs. Oakland (Mar.
1), a second home run in his next at-bat in game two of the Mar. 1 double-header
vs. Oakland, and a tape-measure shot in the second inning vs. Alabama State on
Mar. 12.
FRESHMAN FACTOR : Right-hander Tony Falls' two scoreless innings in relief vs. Houston Sunday
(Mar. 17)? for his first save as a
Blazer was just the lastest in a series of solid performances by the true
freshman from Montgomery, Ala. (Robert E. Lee HS).? Falls pitched with un-freshmanlike poise in two outings in
the Oakland series (Mar. 1-2), picking up two wins in relief.? He did not allow an earned run in two
complete innings, and had two walks and four strikeouts. He got the win in
Friday's 4-3 thriller (he worked the top of the ninth), and picked up
another victory in the Saturday single game. Although he took his first
collegiate loss vs. Connecticut in game one the double-header (Mar. 9), he is
2-1 overall with a 1.38 ERA and one save in 13 complete innings of work, all
out of the bullpen.
STARTING AT CATCHER (?): Most likely junior Justin Miller (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Colby, Kan. CC), backed up
by redshirt sophomore Pete Giangrosso (Alexander City, Ala./Benjamin Russel HS). Senior Brad Bamberg
(Montevallo, Ala./Central Alabama CC) had started four of the seven games he
had appeared in since returning 2001 starter Al Hecklinski (Birmingham,
Ala./Faulkner State CC) experienced problems with his right shoulder (the same
shoulder that he had surgery on in the offseason, he will sit out the 2002
season as a medical redshirt).?
Bamberg suffered an abdominal strain in practice last week and he has
not played since? the Auburn game
(Mar. 5).
OTHER INJURY PROBLEMS:? INF
J.B. Fesmire (back, doubtful), OF
Chad House (knee, day-to-day), OF
Kyle Leon (abdominal strain,
doubtful), OF Quincy Williams
(hamstring, day-to-day), C Brett Tilley (out for season after shoulder surgery).
HOME STAND: Last weekend's Houston series completed an
11-game home stand, UAB's longest of the 2002 season (UAB went 6-5 in
those games).
GETTING DEFENSIVE: One of the 2002 Blazers' biggest problems in
the early going has been defense -- an area that the team takes particular
pride in.? Going into last
weekend's Houston series, UAB had made a startling 41 errors in 18 games
(2.3 per game), and had suffered the consequences on more than one occasion.? In the three games vs. the Cougars
(Mar. 15-17), the Blazers made only?
one error -- a very borderline misplay in the outfield -- in 126
chances.
PITCHER'S BEST
FRIEND: UAB turned eight (8)
double-plays in the Houston series, including six (6) in Saturday's game
(Mar. 16).? The six twin-killings
tied a UAB single-game record, set vs. Middle Tennesse in 2000.
UAB vs. THE SEC: The Blazers are 1-1 vs. SEC teams in? 2002, with a? 3-1 win over Kentucky at Young Memorial Field on Feb. 17 and
a 13-1 loss to Auburn at Young Memorial Field (Mar. 5). UAB finished 4-4
against? SEC teams in 2001. Along
with its two wins over Alabama, the Blazers also went 1-1 vs. Mississippi State
and Vanderbilt and 0-2 vs. Auburn.
BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN GAME
RE-SCHEDULED: The Feb. 27 home game
vs. Birmingham-Southern (which would have been the beginning of an11-game home
stand), was postponed because of frigid weather.? The Blazers and Panthers will now face each other on
successive nights in May -- Tuesday May 7 on the hilltop at Scrushy-Striplin
Field (6 pm) and Wednesday, May 8 at Young Memorial Field (7 pm).
COMING UP: After Tuesday's game at Auburn, the Blazers
will play a three-game C-USA series at Charlotte, Mar. 22-24 (6 pm EST/2 pm
EST/1 pm EST).
