The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Harvard
Blazers Sweep Saturday Doubleheader With Harvard
3/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 14, 2009
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- The UAB baseball team swept both games of a Saturday doubleheader with Harvard, taking the first game in a 13-0 shutout and winning the nightcap 13-7.
Digger Towe and Austin Taylor racked up five hits each on the day, while Towe drove in four runs in the two games to lead the Blazers. Over his past five games, Towe is hitting .647 (11-for-17) with 14 RBI.
With the pair of victories, UAB extended its winning streak to five games and improved its overall record to 9-6. The Blazers have now scored at least 13 runs in each of their past five contests and have hit .408 as a team during that stretch. With two losses Saturday, Harvard fell to 1-6.
The Blazers and Crimson played the first three games of their four-game weekend series at Pensacola Junior College in Pensacola, Fla., because of a forecast for inclement weather in the Birmingham area.
The teams will now return to Birmingham to play the series finale on Sunday. With overnight rain still in the forecast, the location and time of Sunday's game are subject to change. The game will either be played at Young Memorial Field at 11:30 a.m. CT or on the artificial turf field at Vestavia Hills High School at Noon CT.
Game 1 Recap
In Saturday's first game, UAB tallied its first shutout of the season in a 13-0 win over Harvard.
The Blazers pounded out a season-high 18 hits as a team, led by Taylor, Jonathan Merritt and Jamal Austin with three each. Four different Blazers tallied two RBI in the game.
Beau Pender pitched 5.0 scoreless innings to earn the win on the mound. The junior right-hander allowed just four hits and struck out eight batters, matching his career-high, which he set in his last start against Baylor.
Pender left the game following a 38 minute rain delay after the fifth inning, and Robert Brewster and Colin McMurry came out of the bullpen to keep Harvard off the scoreboard. McMurry earned a three-inning save, holding the Crimson scoreless over the seventh, eighth and ninth frames.
Harvard starter Conner Hulse took the loss after allowing seven runs on 10 hits in 4.1 innings of work.
UAB used a two-out rally to get on the board in the second inning. With one runner on, the Blazers managed a double from Taylor, a single from Austin and a double from Merritt to take a 3-0 lead.
In the third inning, Taylor recorded an RBI single, and UAB added two more runs with the aid of a Harvard error to extend its lead to 6-0. An RBI single from Merritt in the fifth pushed the lead to seven runs.
UAB then put the game away with seven runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by a Brint Hardy RBI single and a two-RBI double from Towe. The Blazers sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning and scored their seven runs on seven hits and a walk.
Game 2 Recap
In the nightcap, UAB broke open a 7-7 tie with six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on its way to a 13-7 victory.
After Harvard had evened the contest with two runs in the top of the eighth, UAB sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the frame. With runners on the corners and one out, Taylor doubled to right center to plate what proved to be the game-winning run.
The Blazers added a run on a bases-loaded passed ball and two more on a single from Nick Crawford. Cody McMury then reached on a fielder's choice to score a run, and Towe singled home another as UAB built a six-run edge heading to the ninth.
Mark McKinley came out of the Blazer bullpen to close out Harvard in the ninth inning. McKinley came on for Blake Huddleston, who earned his first win of the year after pitching 4.0 innings of relief and allowing three runs.
Harvard's Will Keuper took the loss after surrendering the go-ahead run to UAB in the bottom of the eighth. Taylor Meehan and Tyler Albright led the Crimson offensively with two hits each in the game.
The big inning for Harvard was the second as the Crimson jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a two-RBI single from Jeff Reynolds and a two-run homer from Andrew Prince.
UAB climbed back into the game using the home run. Andrew Manning hit his third home run of the weekend as the Blazers went deep three times in the game. Luke Stewart blasted his fourth homer of the year, and Hardy added his first long ball. UAB has now homered eight times in the past three games.
