The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Alabama
Blazer Baseball Falls to No. 3 Alabama
5/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 1, 2002
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Sophomore right-hander Jared Woodward pitched seven scoreless innings and sophomore shortstop Adam Pavkovich drove in three runs as No. 3 Alabama defeated UAB 8-1 Wednesday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
Woodward (5-1) held the Blazers to three singles and struck out seven batters in seven innings of work. He wriggled out of the only UAB threat in the second inning after allowing back-to-back one-out singles to third baseman Matt Gaulden and second baseman Seth Rollin. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position, but Woodward struck designated hitter Joe Yarbrough and got shortstop Mark Garner on a pop up to second base to end the inning.
Alabama (39-7) scored single runs in the first and second inning to take a 2-0 lead. In the first inning, Pavkovich reached on an error by UAB's Rollin and moved into scoring position on designated hitter Jeremy Brown's single to center. First baseman Brent Boyd followed with a bloop single down the right field to score Pavkovich with the first run of the game.
The Crimson Tide made it 2-0 in the second inning when right fielder Travis Garner doubled with one out and scored on center fielder Scott McClanahan's two-out double to right center field off UAB starter Andre Parks.
Alabama doubled its lead to 4-0 in the fifth inning with two more runs off Parks as McClanahan walked and scored on Pavkovich's double down the left field line and Pavkovich later scored on a throwing error by UAB's Garner.
Parks (2-9) allowed four runs on eight hits in four and 2/3 innings with two walks and two strikeouts.
Alabama pulled off a baseball oddity in the sixth and seventh innings by scoring a run in each inning with the benefit of a hit or a Blazer error.
In the sixth inning, Garner drew a one-out walk before stealing second and third base. Catcher John Marshall's sacrifice fly to right field, scored Garner to give the Tide a 5-1 lead. In the seventh, Second baseman Peter Stonard and Brown drew back-to-back walks to put runners at first and second base. Boyd's fly ball to right field moved Stonard to third base with two outs. Brown and Stonard then executed the double steal, allowing Stonard to cross the plate with the Crimson Tide's sixth run.
UAB (14-30) scored its only run of the evening when center fielder Mitch Jones hit a solo home run with two outs in the eighth inning off Alabama reliever Brent Carter. Carter allowed one run and one hit in two innings, adding two strikeouts.
Alabama capped the scoring in the eighth inning on a two-run single by Pavkovich. Marshall doubled and moved to third on McClanahan's base hit to left. Both runners scored on Pavkovich's second hit of the game.
UAB travels to Fort Worth, Texas, this weekend for a three-game Conference USA series vs. TCU. Friday's game is scheduled for 3:05 pm CDT, with the Saturday and Sunday games set for 1:00 pm CDT.
The projected pitching rotation for UAB this weekend includes a trio of freshmen right-handers, beginning with Rusty McIntyre (1-0, 3.18 ERA) on Friday, Tony Falls (3-2, 1.94 ERA) on Saturday, and Jeff Brown (1-1, 4.19 ERA) on Sunday.
