The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Tulane
Blazers Come Up Short Against Tulane Friday
3/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 28, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB center fielder Cody McMurry hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to cut the deficit to one, but Tulane held on for an 8-7 victory at Young Memorial Field Friday night. UAB first baseman Ryan Keedy extended his hit streak to 16 games in the loss.
UAB falls to 8-14 on the year and remains winless in Conference USA at 0-4. Tulane improves to 17-7 (1-0 C-USA) after winning its league-opener against the Blazers.
Keedy finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored. The performance marked his 16th multiple hit game of the season.
Shortstop Jonathan Merritt was 2-for-3 with two runs scored in the game, while McMurry finished his day 1-for-4 after hitting the three-run homer in the ninth.
Left fielder Phil Bell ran his season-long hit streak to 13 games by going 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
Tulane standout Shooter Hunt improved to 5-0 on the mound this season with his win against the Blazers. The right-hander allowed just two runs in 6.0 innings pitched, while striking out seven.
Mason Griffin earned his fifth save of the year by closing out the final 3.0 innings of the contest.
Mitch Kloskowski (2-3) lost his third straight start after allowing five runs in 6.0 innings in which he recorded six punchouts.
Tulane was led offensively by designated hitter Andrew Rodgers who was 3-for-4 with three RBI and two home runs. Right fielder Scott Powell and shortstop Seth Henry also homered for the Green Wave.
The Green Wave went ahead 1-0 in the first when Powell walked to lead off the inning and later scored on a single up the middle by Rodgers.
Powell came back around in the third inning and extended Tulane's lead to 2-0 when he hit a shot that just cleared the right field wall for his sixth home run of the season.
In the fourth, the Blazers came back and tied the game, 2-2, as Keedy blasted his third home run of the season with a two-run homer to right-center field.
The game remained tied until the top of the sixth when Tulane got a two-run home run off the bat of Henry that cleared the left-center field wall to make it 4-2. Later in the inning, third baseman Rob Segedin doubled home center fielder Aja Barto to secure a 5-2 advantage.
Tulane pulled away in the seventh when Powell scored without a base hit being recorded to make it 6-2. After reaching on a fielding error by Merritt at short, Powell stole second and then advanced to third and then scored on back-to-back wild pitches by Blazer reliever Brandon Flaherty.
Rodgers added a home run later in the inning to pull away with a 7-2 lead.
UAB came back to cut the deficit to 7-4 in the seventh when second baseman Nick Crawford and Bell both hit RBI singles, but Rodgers came up in the seventh and hit his second solo homer of the game to give the Green Wave an 8-4 lead.
With two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth and the Blazers still trailing by four, McMurry made things interesting as he belted a 1-1 offering from Griffin over the left field wall for the three-run homer to cut the Tulane lead to 8-7, but the next batter, third baseman Luke Stewart, grounded out to first base to end the game.
The Blazers and Green Wave will get together for game two of the series on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. at Young Memorial Field.
