The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
at Southern Mississippi*
Late-Inning Southern Miss Rally Sinks UAB, 8-7
5/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 8, 2005
HATTIESBURG, Miss.-- Southern Miss scored five times in the bottom of the seventh inning, overcoming a 7-3 deficit and taking an 8-7 victory over UAB in the third and deciding game of the series on Sunday afternoon at Pete Taylor Park. The Golden Eagles are now 34-15 overall, 15-9 in Conference USA while the Blazers fall to 29-19, 13-11 in the league.
The Golden Eagles got on the board first in the bottom of the third. With one out and two runners on base, Marc Maddox hit a grounder to third base which went through the legs of Zac Ward, allowing Trey Sutton to come around and score the game's first run from second base. A wild pitch by UAB starter Heath Tapscott scored Kevin Coker and then Maddox plated Southern Miss' third run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Brad Willcutt.
UAB leftfielder Levi Patmon got one of those runs back in the top of the next inning when he ripped the first pitch he saw from Matt Caire over the left field wall for his second home run of the season. The Blazers kept that rally going as Ward followed with a single and Nathan McCorkle then doubled down the left field line. After a walk to Cole Helms loaded the bases with no outs, Claire struck out Seth Rollin and J.R. Bond, but Rush Knight came through with a clutch, two-strike double down the right field line which plated Ward and McCorkle to tie the game at three.
Patmon wasted no time helping his team take a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth. With one out, the UAB leftfielder launched his second home run in as many innings high and deep into the left field trees. It marked the first multi-homer game of Patmon's career and just the second time this season a Blazer has gone deep twice in a game.
The Blazers added a run in the top of the sixth inning when Ryan Metcalf stroked a two-out, RBI single through the left side, plating Bond to make the score 5-3.
UAB added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Patmon led the inning off with his third hit of the day, an infield single to shortstop. After two outs were then made, Patmon came around to score when Helms reached on a throwing error by Southern MIss shortstop Chris Matesich. Rollin then roped an RBI single to left field, extending the Blazer lead to four runs.
Southern Miss loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. After a hit batsman and walk, Matesich singled to left and Sutton reached on an RBI fielder's choice, cutting the UAB lead by a run. Coker then served a Ryan Huffman offering into the right-center field gap for a double, scoring Matesich from second and giving the Golden Eagles runners at second and third with just one out. After Huffman retired Maddox, Willcutt gave his team an 8-7 lead with a three-run home run deep into the left field trees. It was Willcutt's team-best 13th homer of the season and the first given up by Huffman in over 43 innings pitched this season.
The Blazers return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Jacksonville State for a 6:30 p.m. matchup with the Gamecocks.
