The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Baseball Notes For The Mississippi State Game
4/23/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 23, 2002
THE BLAZERS: Are 13-26 overall (5-13 C-USA) and coming off a 12-2
win at Memphis on Sunday (Apr. 21).?
UAB took two of three games from the Tigers in the weekend Conference
USA series, and has won four of its last five games overall.
THE BULLDOGS:? Mississippi
State is 23-15-1 overall and 9-8 in SEC play. The Bulldogs are coming off a
weekend series at Auburn, where they lost two of three games.
THE UAB-MISSISSIPPI STATE
SERIES: The Bulldogs lead the
all-time series 18-9, dating back to the 1982 season.
EARLIER THIS SEASON: Outfielder Michael Brown drove in two runs, starting pitcher Tanner Brock held UAB to one run on one hit through seven innings
and reliever Jonathan Papelbon
got a save as the Bulldogs defeated the Blazers 4-2 in Starkville (Feb. 22) as
part of the NBC Classic.? Catcher Al
Hecklinski and shortstop Mark
Garner each had RBIs for the
Blazers, and starting pitcher Andre Parks worked five and 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits.?
UAB STARTING PITCHER:? The
Blazers' projected starter at Mississippi State is:
Rusty McIntyre *
(Fr., RHP, 1-0, 1.98 ERA)
BULLDOG STARTER:?
Mississippi State's projected starter for Tuesday is:
Joey Collums (Jr., LHP,
2-3, 3.73 ERA)
?MORE ABOUT McINTYRE: The true freshman from Decatur, Ala. (Decatur HS) got his first win as
a Blazer last week, working five complete innings in a start at Alabama State
Tuesday (Apr. 16), allowing one run on four hits, with one walk and five
strikeouts. McIntyre has a total of six appearances this season (two starts, 13.2
total innings pitched), with his first start coming at home vs. Alabama (Apr.
10), in that game he worked two and 1/3 innings, allowing one run on two hits,
with four walks and one strikeout (he was not involved in the decision that
night).
?CALL HIM "GINO": Larry Giangrosso (UAB '75) is in his third season as head coach of the UAB
Blazers.? The Birmingham
native? is? 66-88 (.429)? 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, 2002.
SORT OF A MILESTONE:? The win
over Tulane (Apr. 14) marked Larry Giangrosso's 150th game as head coach
of the UAB Blazers.
INJURY PROBLEMS:?
Injuries have played a big role in the Blazers' woes this season,
virtually every position has been affected at one time or another, and several
players have missed a great deal of playing time or are out completely.? A summary of the UAB injury situation
as of Apr. 22:
RHP * Andre Parks (back, currently out of starting rotation, now works
out of the bullpen),? INF
*? J.B. Fesmire (back, last played vs. Connecticut on Mar. 9, will
take a medical redshirt), OF *?
Chad House (bruised knee,
missed four games but now 100%), OF/DH *? Kyle Leon (abdominal
strain, missed eight games, but now 100%), OF? * Quincy Williams (hamstring, has played in 25 games but rarely at 100%), C * Al
Hecklinski (shoulder, played in
eight early games - will take a medical redshirt),? C * Brad Bamberg (abdominal strain, missed 12 games but now close to 100%),? C * Brett Tilley (out for season after shoulder surgery), RHP
* Scott Gibson (out for season
after shoulder surgery).
YOUNGSTERS CONTRIBUTE:? The
Blazers have counted heavily on the contributions of several true freshmen this
season, including second baseman Seth Rollin (Montgomery, Ala./Jeff Davis HS),? center fielder Chad House (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS), and pitcher Tony
Falls (Montgomery, Ala./Lee
HS).? Rollin and House are every
day starters who have appeared in 34 or more games this season, and Falls has
been one of the Blazers' top bullpen performers, with 21
appearances.? Also beginning to
make an impact are pitcher Jeff Brown (Montgomery, Ala./Calvary Christian Academy) who has 11 appearances and
three Conference USA starts under his belt, and pitcher Rusty McIntyre (Decatur, Ala./Decatur HS), who has six appearances
including starts vs. Alabama? (Apr.
10) and Alabama State (Apr. 16).
LAST WEEK A GOOD ONE: The Blazers had their best week of the 2002 season
Apr. 15-21, going 3-1 overall and winning their first C-USA series of the year
by taking two of three games at Memphis (Apr. 19-21).?
Friday's 15-inning marathon vs. the Tigers ties the UAB record for
second-longest game in the program's history (the Blazers lost a
15-inning game at home to Southern Illinois in 2001).? The longest game in UAB history was a 19-inning affair at
South Alabama in 1981.? There were
numerous strong offensive performances, as UAB hit .298 as a team for the week.
A GREAT WEEK FOR FALLS: ?Right-hander Tony Falls has been one of the Blazers' top relievers all season. His
performance vs. Alabama State in
his hometown of Montgomery, Ala. on Tuesday (Apr. 16) was typical -- he entered
the game in the ninth inning with UAB leading 6-3, faced five batters, struck
out two, and got his second save of the year.? He outdid himself, however, in UAB's 9-8 win over Memphis in 15 innings Friday (4/19) at AutoZone Park. The
true freshman entered the game with two outs in the seventh inning and the
score tied 8-8, he worked 8.1 innings -- his longest outing of the season --
and allowed no runs on five hits -- he faced 28 batters -- with no walks and a
career-high 10 strikeouts -- and pitched his way to his third win of the
season. For the week, he allowed no runs in 9.1 innings, giving up six hits
with no walks and 12 strikeouts.
"JOLTIN'
JOE": One of the biggest
surprises last week was senior LHP Joe Yarbrough, who, after making his regular Friday start in the
9-8 victory over the Tigers, served as a pinch-hitter in Saturday's game,
driving in two runs with his first career hit (he batted four times in 2001 and
is 3-6 in 2002 -- career average of .300 with five RBI). Yarbrough's
efforts with the bat were apparently impressive enough that Blazer coach Larry
Giangrosso inserted him into the
starting lineup at DH in Sunday's game? -- his first non-pitching start as a Blazer. Yarbrough came
through with flying colors, going two-for-four and slamming a three-run homer
in the third inning (his first extra base hit as a Blazer).? For the week, Yarbrough, who is a rare
left-handed batter on the Blazer roster, hit .600 (3-5) with one homer and five
RBI.
LYON AND GAULDEN HAVE
GOOD WEEKS, TOO: Outfielder Eric
Lyon and third baseman Matt
Gaulden each hit .421 for the week
(8-19). Lyon drove in seven runs, including three with a home run in the second
inning of Sunday's game vs. Memphis (Apr. 21), the senior from Kirkland,
Wash. hit .357 (5-14) in the Memphis series, with one double, one homer, and
six RBI. Gaulden hit a solo shot in that same game (immediately following Kyle
Leon's two-run bomb that may still be airborne somewhere over Memphis)
and had a double and two RBI for the week. Gaulden hit .429 in the Memphis
series (6-14).
ROLLIN ROLLS ON: Freshman second baseman Seth Rollin returned to his home town of Montgomery, Ala., when
the Blazers played at Alabama State last week (Apr. 16). The familiar
surroundings of Montgomery's Paterson Field, where he played many of his high school games,
seemed to agree with Rollin, he homered in his first two at-bats and added a
single later to finish three-for-four for the game with two RBI and two runs
scored. Rollin hit .368 for the week (7-19) with three home runs and three RBI.
MORE ROLLIN: ?Rollin
has been swinging a very hot bat in recent weeks, Rollin is hitting .314
(11-35) in his last eight games with three home runs and two RBI.? He's also hitting .350 (14-40) in
his last 10 games, with three doubles, one triple, two home runs, and three
RBI.?
KYLE LEON: Junior DH/outfielder Kyle Leon (Guelph, Ontario/transfer from Charleston Southern)
has a .322 season batting average, the highest among the Blazers'
everyday players (he also leads UAB with a .404 batting average vs. C-USA
opponents... 23-57). Leon, who missed eight games earlier in the season with an
abdominal strain, has started 16 games in right field and 15 at designated
hitter. Leon hit .500 (6-12) in the Tulane series, with two doubles (including
one for 2 RBI that tied the game in the fifth inning Sunday) and four RBI -- he
went 4-4 in the Sunday game. He's now hitting? .390 (16-41) in 12 C-USA games. Leon hit .533 (.8-15) for
the week of Apr. 8-14, with two doubles, a triple, and six RBI. Leon hit .438
(7-16) in the Memphis series, with one double, one homer and six RBI.? He's hitting .417 (15-36) in his
last eight games, with three doubles, one triple, one homer, and 12 RBI.
CHAD HOUSE: The freshman outfielder from Memphis, Tenn.
(Christian Brothers HS) has been one of the bright spots of the 2002 UAB season
for the Blazers.? He is currently
hitting .289 (35-121) in 34 games (he missed four games with a bruised knee in
March) and has played very solid defense throughout the year. He had a good
series in his hometown of Memphis, hitting .375 (6-16) with two doubles and two
RBI and a .412 on-base percentage.?
In his last eight games, House is hitting .303 (10-33) with three
doubles and four RBI. Before his injury (he ran into the outfield wall trying
to catch a fly ball in the Mar. 15 game vs. Houston), 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.
MATT WOMBLE: The diminutive Blazer first baseman (he's
actually 5-11, 175 but he looks small at first base) packs surprising punch at
the plate, he's hitting .246 (34-138) for the season, with ten doubles,
two home runs, and a team-high 27 RBI. He hit .312 (5-16) in the Memphis
series, with a double a home run and six RBI.? Womble's three-run homer in the third inning of Friday's
game vs. the Tigers at AutoZone Park (Apr. 19) was a monster shot,
conservatively estimated at 368 feet (it landed on the bluff beyond the left
field wall). In 18 C-USA games, he's hitting .243 (18-74).? In his last eight games, Womble has a
.364 batting average (12-33) with four doubles, one home run and four RBI.? He hit .400 (6-15) for the week of Apr.
8-14, with two doubles and one RBI.?
MATT GAULDEN:? The
Blazer third baseman is also a potentially dangerous man at the plate, his .261
overall and .200 C-USA batting average don't really tell the tale completely.
Gaulden is tied for the team lead with 10 doubles, three home runs (including a
three RBI shot that proved to be the game-winner vs. Tulane on Apr. 14 -- it
was one of his two hits in the series) .
MARK GARNER: The senior shortstop from Spanish Fort, Ala. (Daphne
HS) led the team in batting average (.324) and hits (60) in 2001, but has
struggled this season, hitting .187 (25-134) in 39 games this season
(he's the only Blazer to start all 39 games thus far). Garner is hitting.
172 (10-58) in 18C-USA games this season, with four RBI.
MITCH JONES:? Junior
outfielder Mitch Jones (Chelsea,
Ala./Chelsea HS) is also struggling this season. A freshman All-America in
2000, Jones hit .183 last season and is hitting .165 (20-121) in 37 games this
season. Interestingly, Jones has three home runs this season -- all of which
have come in his first at-bat of the game. Jones has is hitting .176 in his
last eight games (3-17).? He did,
however hit .333 (2-6) in the Tulane series (Apr. 12-14),? Jones has a .154 batting average (8-52)
in 17 C-USA games this season.
JUSTIN MILLER:? Junior
catcher Justin Miller is batting
.208 overall with four doubles, one home run, and eight RBI.? In 27 games as a starter, he's
batting .213 (all of his extra-base hits and RBIs have come as a starter). In
17 C-USA games to date, Miller is batting .196 (three doubles, one home
run,four RBI). He seems to like playing every day -- in five appearances as a
pinch hitter and/or defensive substitute, he hitting .167 (2-12).? He did however, have one of the biggest
hits of the 2002 season to date as a substitute, his double in the top of the
15th inning at Memphis (Apr. 19) set up the winning run (by pinch runner
Scottie Holden) in UAB's 9-8 victory.
A RELUCTANT SWITCH
HITTER:? Senior catcher Brad Bamberg (Montevallo, Ala./Central Alabama CC) is currently
hitting .174 (4-23) in 15 games (he's started nine).? After undergoing shoulder surgery in
the off season, Bamberg found it difficult to swing the bat comfortably in his
natural right-handed stance, so he switched to batting left-handed, something
he had never done in his life before this season.?
COMING UP: ?UAB
hosts Southern Miss in a
three-game Conference USA series this weekend at Young Memorial Field, Apr. 26-28 (7 pm/2 pm/1 pm).
