The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Green Team Takes Baseball's Weekend Intrasquad Series
11/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Nov. 10, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team completed its fall intrasquad series over the weekend with the Green team winning six of the seven games over the Gold squad.
Each game was three innings with the teams playing twice on Friday, twice on Saturday and three times on Sunday.
One of the reasons for the Green team's success was strong pitching. Nick Graffeo, Tristan Farrell, Beau Pender and Mikael Saway each threw three-inning shutouts to account for four of the team's wins in the series.
Graffeo, Farrell and Saway are all preparing for their senior seasons and have been key members of the UAB bullpen, while Pender is back for his senior year after spending the 2009 campaign as part of the Blazers' weekend rotation.
"It was fun to see our players compete," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "Anytime you're out there, you're going to see some encouraging things and some areas where you need to improve. We still have two more full practices and one more intrasquad to get some more things accomplished."
Offensively, Shoop was impressed with the production from Jonathan Merritt, Digger Towe and Keith DePew. Merritt, a three-year starter at shortstop, and Towe, a catcher who led the Blazers last year with a .353 batting average and 61 RBI, return to the UAB starting lineup for the 2010 season. DePew, a reserve infielder a season ago, will push for a spot in the order this year.
UAB will wrap up its fall practice period this week as the Blazers continue preparations for next season. The Blazers are looking to build on a 31-26 campaign in 2009 that saw them earn series victories over fourth-ranked Rice and College World Series participant Southern Miss. UAB reached the 30-win mark for the first time since 2005.
