The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Jacksonville State
Five-Run Fourth Leads Blazers Past Gamecocks
2/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2009
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team scored in six out of the nine innings Tuesday as the Blazers picked up a 10-4 victory at Jacksonville State in their first road contest of the season.
Nick Crawford recorded his second three-hit effort in four games, while Andrew Manning tallied a career-high three RBI in the UAB victory.
Mitch Kloskowski earned the win in his first start of the year. The senior worked 5.0 innings, allowing two runs -- one earned -- before handing the ball over to the Blazer bullpen. Tristan Farrell came on to pitch three innings, surrendering two runs, and Nick Graffeo took the ball in the ninth to close it out.
With the victory, UAB improves to 3-1 on the season, while Jacksonville State -- the preseason favorite in the Ohio Valley Conference -- falls to 0-4. The Blazers will be back in action Wednesday when they travel to Alabama A&M for a 1 p.m. CT first pitch.
UAB's victory Tuesday was keyed by a five-run fourth inning.
With the game tied 1-1 through three innings, the Blazers exploded for five runs in the fourth to take their first lead. All nine batters came to the plate in the frame as UAB tallied three hits and two walks and had one batter reach by error.
UAB loaded the bases with one out, and Manning brought home the first two runs of the inning on a double to deep center field. Jamal Austin then reached on an error as a third UAB run came across, and Jonathan Merritt closed out the scoring with a two-RBI double as the Blazers took a commanding 6-1 lead.
UAB also stole three bases in the inning with one each for Austin, Merritt and Crawford. The Blazers racked up four steals in the game to increase their season total to 13 through four games. Brint Hardy recorded the fourth UAB steal in the game and leads the team with five on the season.
Jacksonville State threatened to do some damage of its own in the bottom of the fourth, but Kloskowski worked out of a jam to maintain the five-run lead. The Gamecocks loaded the bases with one out on two walks and a hit batter, but Kloskowski induced a ground ball from Jacksonville State's Jake Sharrock, and Manning snagged it at third base to start an inning-ending double play.
UAB tacked on a run in the fifth on an RBI single from Manning and another in the sixth when Merritt was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a Jacksonville State error. The Blazers then picked up another run in the seventh when Austin singled, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball. The final Blazer run came in the eighth when Crawford led off with a double and later scored on an RBI groundout from Cody McMurry.
The Gamecocks picked up an unearned run in the fifth and scored their final two runs in the seventh inning on a two-RBI triple from Steven Leach.
Leach led Jacksonville State with three hits and three RBI in the game. Gamecock starter Tanner Freshour took the loss on the mound after allowing four runs in 3.1 innings of work.
The two runs for Jacksonville State in the seventh inning were the first earned runs allowed by the UAB bullpen this season. Blazer relievers have now thrown a total of 14.2 innings and given up just two earned runs.
