The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
BALL STATE
UAB Handed First Loss By Ball State, 7-6
2/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 25, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team suffered its first loss of the season on Friday night at Young Memorial Field as the Ball State Cardinals (2-1) knocked off the Blazers (4-1) by a score of 7-6. The Blazers came back from a 5-0 deficit to take a 6-5 lead into the eighth inning, but a two-run home run by Ball State's Matt Singleton late in the game put the Cardinals ahead for good.
Eric Roberts suffered the defeat for UAB, falling to 0-1 on the year while Ball State's Michael Hale earned his first victory with three innings of work out of the bullpen. Erik Morrison pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Cardinals and picked up his second save of the season.
Ball State outhit UAB by a count of 16-8 and was led by Jason Bucholtz and Marc Franz who combined for seven hits. UAB's Dan Stucky was the only Blazer to record two hits in the game. Stucky went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Justin Telotte was impressive out of the bullpen for the Blazers, pitching two scoreless innings and striking out two.
"We were down 5-0 before we could really get going," said head coach Larry Giangrosso. "We dodged a bunch of bullets with our pitching tonight, but we were still able to take the lead. I think the thing that hurt us was that we got them on the ropes a couple of times, but we couldn't break the game open. That's a credit to their pitchers making good pitches, and I think it was the difference tonight."
The Cardinals jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Shortstop Bucholtz started the rally with a one-out single. After a walk to Brad Miller, Franz ripped a shot past UAB third baseman Zac Ward which brought Bucholtz home with the game's first run. With two outs, Ball State third baseman Kyle Dygert smacked a two-run single to right field, giving his team a three-run cushion.
After two more Cardinal runs in the top of the third put Ball State up 5-0, the Blazers came back with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Ryan Metcalf stroked a leadoff single up the middle, then came around to score two batters later on an RBI single to center by Stucky. With runners on first and third and no one out, Ward drew a walk to load the bases. Nathan McCorkle and Cole Helms each followed with a run-scoring fielder's choice to make the score 5-3. With two outs, Seth Rollin then lofted a high fly ball into short left field which no Cardinal player could make a play on, allowing Helms to score from first.
Trailing by a run in the bottom of the sixth, UAB loaded the bases with no outs. Rollin walked, J.R. Bond was hit by a pitch and Rush Knight singled. Ryan Metcalf then grounded into a double play, but Rollin was able to score the tying run on the play.
An RBI single by Nathan McCorkle in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Stucky who had reached on an infield single to lead off the inning and gave the Blazers a 6-5 lead. The hit by McCorkle broke him out of an o-for-11 slump at the plate.
Ball State came right back and reclaimed the lead in the top of the eighth. With two outs and one runner on base, Singleton launched a Roberts offering over the left field wall to give his team a 7-6 lead. The home run was Ball State's first of the season.
The Blazers and Cardinals will wrap up their three-game series with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Young Memorial Field. The second game will begin approximately 30-45 minutes after the conclusion of the first.
