The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Baseball Hosts Defending Ivy League Champ Brown This Weekend
2/28/2008 12:00:00β―AM | Baseball
Feb. 28, 2008
Gameday Central
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB baseball team welcomes defending Ivy League champion Brown to Young Memorial Field this weekend for a four-game series. Game one of the series will get underway Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. when Blazer ace Mitch Kloskowski takes the mound in hopes of snapping the team's three-game losing streak.
UAB employees get in to Friday's game free, while Saturday will be Little League Dollar Day. There will also be a Gang Green Tailgate prior to Saturday's doubleheader that begins at 12:00 p.m. On Sunday, fans can receive half-off admission by presenting a church bulletin from that day's service. Sunday's game gets underway at 1:00 p.m.
The Blazers and Bears have never met prior to this weekend. In fact, Brown is the first Ivy League team UAB has ever played. After getting off to a 2-0 start to the 2008 campaign last weekend, UAB (2-3) finds itself in a three-game losing skid following losses to Ball State and Mississippi State.
Offense hasn't been an issue for the Blazers' woes as the team is averaging 6.2 runs per game. Senior outfielder Phil Bell leads the club with a .444 batting average after his three-hit performance at Mississippi State on Tuesday that moved his current hit streak to five games.
Senior first baseman Ryan Keedy has also swung a hot bat thus far, hitting .429 with a team-best seven RBI. Junior outfielder/designated hitter Austin Taylor is batting .368 having hit safely in four of his first five games as a Blazer.
Kloskowski will get the ball to start Friday's game after he went 6.0 innings and struck out seven on opening day last weekend to earn his first win of the season.
Also expected to make a start this weekend is senior right-hander Brandon Wallace, who pitched 7.0 innings, struck out four and allowed no walks or earned runs in getting a no-decision against Ball State last Saturday.
Brown will be playing its first games of the season this weekend as it looks to answer the question of who will fill in for lost talent on the mound and behind the plate.
The Bears, who were eliminated from the Austin Regional by Wake Forest last June, have the daunting task of replacing two of their top arms from its Ivy League championship club.
Jeff Dietz won nine games for the Bears last season before leaving school early for the pro ranks where he signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks. James Cramphin is a starter from last season who departed due to graduation. Cramphin won six games in 2007.
Offensively, the Bears have also lost their biggest threat as catcher Devin Thomas, a seventh round pick by the Detroit Tigers in the 2007 MLB Draft, finished his eligibility last year by blasting 16 home runs to go along with his .371 batting average and 64 RBI.
Leading Brown's offensive attack this season is first-team All-Ivy League selection Ryan Murphy. Murphy hit .410 with two homers, 11 stolen bases and 24 RBI last season.
All four games this weekend can be followed live on Gametracker at UABsports.com. Fans can watch live video streams of the games on Blazer All-Access.
