The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss (C-USA Tournament)
UAB Falls To Southern Miss, 16-10
5/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 29, 2004
HOUSTON, Texas - Southern Miss posted an 11-run seventh inning and rallied to defeat No. 7-seed UAB 16-10 in semifinal action at the Conference USA Baseball Tournament Saturday morning at Cougar Field on the University of Houston campus.
The two teams will now meet in an elimination game at 4 p.m. Saturday. The winner moves on to Sunday's C-USA Championship game, which will be played at 1 p.m.
The Golden Eagles began the seventh inning down 10-5 and regained the lead after batting around. Second baseman Jarrett Hoffpauir had six RBI in the inning for Southern Miss as he hit a grand slam to left center field late in the inning and began the Golden Eagle scoring with a two-run homer to left field.
After Hoffpauir's two-run homer, UAB appeared ready to end the inning when with the bases loaded and one out, designated hitter Nathan Sanders hit a double-play ball to Blazer shortstop Josh Miljavac. Miljavac was unable to field the ball, allowing Sanders to reach first base. Right fielder Ryan Frith and center fielder Jason Lowery were both able to score on the play. The Golden Eagles went on to score seven unearned runs in the inning.
Cole Helms (2-2) took the loss for UAB (30-28) after coming on in relief from right field in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up five runs, none of which were earned, on one hit. Helms walked one batter.
Blazer starter Griffin Zarbough went two-thirds of an inning and gave up three runs on one hit. Zarbough walked three batters.
Golden Eagle reliever Austin Tubb (7-0) picked up the win for third-seeded and 23rd-ranked Southern Miss (42-17) after working two and a third innings and giving up one run, which was unearned, on two hits. He walked one and struck out two.
UAB took a commanding 8-3 lead in the top of the third inning after batting around. The Blazers began the inning down 3-2. The rally started when with one out, first baseman Daniel Hill singled to center field. Designated hitter Nathan McCorkle followed with a single up the middle. Helms then advanced the runners one base when he grounded out to first. Second baseman Seth Rollin then gave the Blazers the lead with a two-out grand slam over the left field wall.
"We had a chance to put the game away and didn't do it," said UAB head coach Larry Giangrosso. "We stayed behind in the count and Southern Miss has such good hitting that it really hurt us. It now comes down to a one-game tournament for us. We'll come back at 4 o'clock and try to get it done. It will be a tough task because they have momentum."
All of UAB's games at the C-USA Tournament will be broadcast live via the world wide web on the Blazers' official athletics website, www.uabsports.com. Air time for UAB's contest against Southern Miss is approximately 3:45 p.m.
For those who are not Yahoo! subscribers, a monthly subscription can be purchased for $4.95 per month. To listen to the broadcast, click on either "UAB Audio Broadcasts" or "Multimedia" from the UAB athletics website's main page and follow the links.
The championship game will be televised by affiliates of the Conference USA Television Network and CSTV: College Sports Television. Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast will carry the telecast live.
The tournament champion receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
UAB or Southern Miss would face either TCU or Houston in the championship game. TCU needs two victories over Houston to advance to the final. The teams are set to square off at 12:30 p.m.
