The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Hosts Savannah State For Three-Game Series
3/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 27, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team steps out of conference play this weekend to host Savannah State in a three-game series at Young Memorial Field.
The Blazers and Tigers are scheduled to open the series Friday at 7 p.m. CT. Game two is slated for Saturday at 2 p.m., while game three is set for Sunday at 1 p.m.
The first game of the series will be the first ever meeting between the two teams.
At Friday's game, UAB will welcome more than 25 injured service men and women, who are in Birmingham for the U.S. Paralympic Military Sports Camp. The camp is for veterans who have sustained physical injuries and is organized by Lakeshore Foundation's Lima Foxtrot Program for Injured Military and the United States Olympic Committee's Paralympic Military Program.
Alabama native, 1st Lt. Brian Hicks will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the game. Hicks, who was an engineer for a medical unit while serving in Iraq, suffered long-term nerve damage as the result of an injury he sustained on a resupply mission, and he ultimately had his left leg amputated. Now a civil engineer, he is training for his first triathlon since the amputation.
UAB is 11-10 on the season after Tuesday's loss on the road at Alabama. The Blazers and Crimson Tide played again Wednesday night at Regions Park, but the game was stopped in the sixth inning because of rain.
UAB led the game 2-1 through five complete innings, but Alabama plated a run in the top of the sixth to tie the score. The Blazers are awaiting a definitive answer from an NCAA rules committee on whether it will be ruled an official game with UAB a 2-1 winner or a suspended game that the teams would try to resume at a later date.
Digger Towe enters the weekend as UAB's leader at the plate with a .391 batting average. He is one of eight Blazer regulars hitting better than .300 for the year. Towe also leads the team in RBI with 27, followed by Cody McMurry with 26. McMurry owns a team-best six home runs.
Savannah State comes into the series at 14-10 on the season and riding a seven-game winning streak. The Tigers swept a three-game series last weekend against North Carolina Central and then picked up midweek wins over Mercer and Air Force.
Brandon Webster leads Savannah State offensively with a .395 batting average and 22 RBI. Dexter Kelley has hit a team-best five home runs and ranks second on the squad behind Webster with 21 RBI.
As a team, Savannah State is hitting .305 for the year, while UAB is hitting .316.
The pitching matchup for game one of the series pits UAB left-hander Shay Crawford against Savannah State lefty Robert Ramsdale. Crawford is looking to improve upon a 2-2 record and a 7.01 ERA, having struck out 21 batters in 25.2 innings of work. Ramsdale is 3-1 on the year with a 1.97 ERA in five starts for Savannah State.
Fans can follow the entire series online through Gametracker live stats and All-Access live video at www.uabsports.com.
