The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
at Louisville*
Blazers Fall 5-2 In Finale at Louisville
5/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 21, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- Louisville scored three runs in their final two at-bats and held on to defeat UAB, 5-2 on Saturday afternoon at Patterson Stadium. With the victory, the Cardinals pick up the series victory over the Blazers and finish the regular season with a 32-22 overall mark and 15-14 record in Conference USA. UAB wraps up the regular season 31-25, 14-16 in league play. Both teams will continue play in the postseason at next week's Conference USA Tournament.
Louisville starter Scott Jenkins (2-2) earned the win, allowing just one earned run in seven innings of work and Brian Halford earned his eighth save after finishing off UAB in the eighth and ninth innings. Randy Mills (3-3) suffered the loss for the Blazers.
The Blazers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead courtesy of Seth Rollin's eighth home run of the season with one out in the top of the second inning. The homer was Rollin's eighth of the season, tying him with Nathan McCorkle and Cole Helms for the team lead.
Louisville responded in the bottom of the second. J.T. LaFountain drew a leadoff walk and Logan Johnson followed with a single to right. After Ryan McKinnon struck out, Curt Stewart grounded a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield to load the bases with just one out. Greg Taylor then stepped to the plate and lined a two-strike single into center field, scoring LaFountain and Johnson to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
UAB tied the score in the top of the fourth when J.R. Bond came home to score from third on an RBI groundout by Cole Helms.
The Cardinals reclaimed the lead when Stewart hit the first pitch he saw from UAB reliever Randy Mills over the right field wall in the bottom of the seventh inning. It was Stewart's second homer of the season and gave Louisville a 3-2 advantage.
A two-run homer by McKinnon in the bottom of the eighth gave Louisville a solid 5-2 lead to work with heading into UAB's final at-bat in the ninth.
The Blazers will return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Hattiesburg, Miss. for the 2005 Conference USA Baseball Tournament. More information on the tournament can be found at www.conferenceusa.com.
