The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Looks To Continue Winning Ways At Mississippi State
3/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 18, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- After two days off, the UAB baseball team returns to action Wednesday with a trip to Starkville, Miss., for a non-conference contest against SEC foe Mississippi State. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT at Dudy Noble Field.
UAB enters Tuesday's game on a roll, having won six games in a row to improve to 10-6 on the season. The six-game winning streak is the first for the Blazers under third-year head coach Brian Shoop and the program's longest streak since winning seven straight early in the 2006 season.
UAB racked up all six of those wins last week, taking two midweek games from UT Martin and sweeping a four-game weekend series with Harvard. During that stretch, the Blazers hit .402 as a team, blasted 12 home runs and out-scored their opponents 79-21.
Individually, Digger Towe will look to continue his hot streak against Mississippi State. The junior catcher was named the NCBWA Pro-Line National Hitter of the Week on Tuesday after hitting .571 with two home runs, five doubles and 16 RBI in the six games last week. Towe was also selected as the Conference USA Hitter of the Week.
For the season, UAB is now hitting .328 as a team with eight regulars hitting better than .300. Brint Hardy checks in at .379 to lead the team and also tops Conference USA with 16 stolen bases for a Blazer squad that has 40 steals as a team through 16 games. In the power categories, Luke Stewart and Cody McMurry own four home runs each, while Towe leads UAB and Conference USA with 22 RBI.
The Blazers will be looking to snap a 13-game Mississippi State winning streak in the all-time series between the two teams. Overall, the Bulldogs of won 29 of the 38 games the teams have played. The most recent UAB victory came with a 4-2 win in Starkville on April 3, 2001.
Mississippi State enters the game at 12-6 on the year after a 10-7 loss Tuesday night to Southern Miss. The Bulldogs won two out of three games over the weekend in their opening SEC series against South Carolina and came into this week ranked No. 25 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll.
Jet Butler leads the Mississippi State regulars with a .431 batting average and 18 RBI. Russ Sneed and Connor Powers are tied for team-high honors with three home runs each for the Bulldogs.
Wednesday's contest is the first of five consecutive road games for UAB. The Blazers will head to Houston for three games this weekend to open Conference USA action and will also travel to Alabama next Tuesday before hosting the Crimson Tide at Regions Park next Wednesday.
