The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Baseball Notes For The Charlotte Series
3/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 21, 2002
THIS WEEKEND'S
SCHEDULE:
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 8-12 overall (1-2 C-USA) and coming off 9-2 loss
at 19th-ranked Auburn Tuesday evening. UAB played its first C-USA series at
home vs. No. 8 Houston last weekend.
THE 49ERS: Charlotte is 12-9 overall (2-1 C-USA) and coming off
a 14-3 win over UNC Greensboro Tuesday in Charlotte. The 49ers took two of
three games from then 23rd-ranked Tulane in Charlotte last weekend.
STARTING PITCHERS:? The
Blazers' projected weekend pitching rotation is:
Fri. 3/22 * Joe
Yarbrough (Sr., LHP, 0-2, 2.53 ERA)
Sat. 3/23 * Andre
Parks (Sr., RHP, 1-3, 6.43 ERA)
Sun. 3/24 * Ross
Dobbins (Sr., RHP, 2-0, 5.10 ERA)
49ER STARTERS:?
Charlotte's projected starting rotation is:
Fri. 3/22 * Matt
Savage (Jr., RHP, 2-2, 4.38 ERA)
Sat. 3/23 * John
Maine (Jr., RHP, 2-4, 6.63 ERA)
Sun. 3/24 * TBA
THE UAB-CHARLOTTE SERIES:? Oddly
enough, UAB has a better record on the 49ers' home field than in
Birmingham.? The Blazers lead the
all-time series 18-14, dating back to the 1979 season and Sun Belt Conference
days, but trail 6-8 in Birmingham and 3-6 at Young Memorial Field (1997-? ).? The Blazers are 11-4 all-time in Charlotte, and have won six
of the last eight meetings there, dating b ack to the 1996 season, when both
teams became members of Conference USA.?
LAST YEAR:?
Charlotte took two of three games from UAB at Young Memorial Field (Mar.
30-Apr. 1, 2001).? The Blazers won
game one 13-6, but the 49ers came back with 5-4 and 5-2 wins and currently
enjoy a two-game win streak over the Blazers.??
FOUR IN A ROW: Including the three-game series with Houston last
weekend (Mar. 15-17) and Tuesday's Auburn game,? UAB has played its last four games in a row vs. ranked
teams.
CALL HIM
"GINO": Larry
Giangrosso (UAB '75) is in his
third season as head coach of the UAB Blazers.? The Birmingham native?
is? 61-74 (.452)? 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 COACHES: 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 last 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 did not play vs. Auburn Tuesday.
LYON MAKES IT COUNT: His season batting average is only .231, and he has
appeared in 10 games this season (starting six).? 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 six games he is hitting? .227 (again, not spectacular) with two
doubles, a triple, a home run and a team-high nine RBI.? The triple came in 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 Russell 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, day-to-day),
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 1-2 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) and a 9-2 loss in Auburn
(Mar. 19). 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 this weekend's series in Charlotte, the
Blazers host Samford in a
cross-town rival game at Young Memorial Field (Mar. 26) and then host No. 25
East Carolina in a three-game C-USA
series, Mar. 29-31.
