The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Baseball Heads To Third-Straight Conference Tournament
5/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 23, 2006
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team travels to Houston, Texas this week to participate in the Conference USA Championship being held on the campus of Rice University.
The Blazers (19-36, 6-18 C-USA), making their third-straight tournament appearance, will go against top seed and No. 1-ranked Rice (46-10, 22-2 C-USA) on Wednesday at 4 p.m., in the fourth matchup between the two schools this season.
Head coach Larry Giangrosso's squad is no stranger to Reckling Park, having played a three-game set there earlier this year. The Blazers gave the Owls all they could handle, losing three games by a total of six runs. The first matchup was an unbelievable pitchers' duel between UAB's Jacob Legg and Rice ace Eddie Degerman, as Rice prevailed 2-1 and went on to sweep the series.
The two teams went in opposite directions after the series, with Rice winning 12 out of its next 13 games. The Green and Gold sputtered, losing six straight after its trip to Houston. Both teams finished strong however, with Rice sweeping the final weekend series of the season, and UAB downing No. 15 Tulane in its season finale to clinch the Blazers' trip to the conference championship.
Rice still rides the wave of its powerful pitching staff, as its team ERA of 3.07 leads the conference. Opposing squads are batting only .230 against the Owls, and have struck out a league-high 515 times against them. Thursday's starter against UAB will be a familiar face, as Degerman will take the mound again against the Blazers. Degerman is 10-1 on the year, with a paltry 1.65 ERA. He has struck out 127 batters in only 98 innings, while allowing only 18 earned runs. The Owls' offensive attack has backed him up, hitting .318 as a team so far in 2006. Brian Friday has been the toughest out in the lineup, batting .378 with seven home runs on the season.
UAB enters the tournament after one of the best games it's played all year, a 20-11 defeat of No. 15 Tulane to close out the regular season last Saturday. The Blazers used a 10-run eighth inning to complete the comeback victory against the Green Wave. Steven Turner was a big reason for the comeback, as the junior registered a remarkable .778 (7-for-9) average on the weekend. Turner launched his fourth home run of the season and scored nine runs during the series. His performance raised his season average to .301, joining Danny Sawyer as the other UAB hitter over .300 on the season.
Jorge Gutierrez had a career day on Sunday, picking up a career-high four hits in the winning effort. His bat, along with the stellar defensive play of shortstop Ryan Metcalf, have been a key part of the Blazers return from early season struggles. Metcalf's glove has been spectacular, as the junior from Pelham, Ala., leads all C-USA players in assists with 207.
The C-USA Championship is a double-elimination tournament with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Play begins on Wednesday and will conclude on Sunday with the championship game, which will be aired live on CSTV.
First pitch against Rice is set for 4 p.m., and can be followed online with gametracker. Gametracker is available at the conference website, www.c-usa.org. Streaming video of the games is also available through Rice's website, www.riceowls.com. For complete postgame coverage, check UAB's athletics website, www.uabsports.com.
