The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
at Auburn
Baseball Team Falls To No. 5 Auburn
4/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 15, 2003
AUBURN, Ala. - Designated hitter Josh Bell's two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning helped lift No. 5 Auburn (30-8, 11-4 Southeastern Conference) to a 4-2 victory over UAB (21-14, 6-8 Conference USA) in baseball action Tuesday evening at Plainsman Park.
Auburn trailed the whole way until Bell's homer cleared the center field wall and gave the Tigers a 3-2 advantage. Later in the inning, left fielder Sean Gamble, who was 0-4 on the evening, reached on an infield hit, allowing right fielder Clete Thomas to score from third base.
UAB struck first in the top of the first inning on right fielder Kyle Leon's sacrifice fly to center field that scored designated hitter Steve Martin.
UAB took a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning when left fielder Mitch Jones singled through the left side, scoring third baseman Drew Connell.
Auburn answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth when designated hitter Josh Bell singled to right center field, scoring first baseman Karl Amonite.
Tiger reliever Lee Carter (1-0) picked up the win for Auburn after working two-thirds of the eighth inning. Daniel Forrer, the Auburn starter, pitched four innings and allowed both UAB runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out three.
Griffin Zarbough (0-2) took the loss for UAB after coming on in relief of Blazer starter Chris Thorup in the fifth inning. Zarbough pitched three innings and allowed three runs on three hits. He walked two and struck out four. Thorup worked four and one-third innings, gave up one run on five hits, and issued one walk. Cody Cillo pitched the final two-thirds of the eighth inning and allowed one hit and one walk, while recording a strikeout.
"I thought our offensive approach tonight was really good," said UAB head coach Larry Giangrosso. "We fought off pitches until we got pitches we could handle, so I thought we did well in that area. We got a good pitching performance out of Chris (Thorup) and Griffin (Zarbough). It is a very, very tough loss. I was proud of the way we fought and I was proud of the way we played. If we can continue to do that we will go into the Tulane series and play pretty well."
UAB next travels to New Orleans, La. to face No. 25 Tulane in a three-game Conference USA series Friday-Sunday at Turchin Stadium.
