The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Baylor
Late Rally Carries No. 6 Baylor Past UAB
3/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 8, 2009
WACO, Texas -- The UAB baseball team led the sixth-ranked team in the country through six innings Sunday, but a late-inning rally propelled Baylor to an 11-8 win on the final day of the QTI Baylor Classic.
UAB right fielder Brint Hardy went 4-for-5 with three RBI in Sunday's game and was one of five Blazers to earn a spot on the all-tournament team. He was joined on the team by second baseman Nick Crawford, third baseman Andrew Manning, shortstop Jonathan Merritt and pitcher Beau Pender.
UAB finished 1-2 at the tournament with a win over South Alabama and losses to top 10 teams in Baylor and UC Irvine. The Blazers are now 4-6 on the season. Baylor, with Sunday's win, improves to 10-2.
"This tournament was a great experience," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "I felt like it was a good weekend for us and something we can build on. I know the guys are disappointed after having a chance to beat a top 10 team, but we'll get back to work this week and keep trying to improve."
Pender had an impressive start spoiled by Baylor's comeback. The junior right-hander shut the Bears out through the first five innings and left the game having allowed three runs on three hits and striking out a career-best eight batters in a career-high six innings. He wound up with a no-decision.
The decisive inning was the seventh. With UAB leading 8-3 after adding an insurance run in the top of the seventh, Baylor put six runs on the board in the bottom of the frame to take its first lead of the game.
The Bears loaded the bases on three walks and then Dustin Dickerson drew a fourth walk to bring the first run of the inning home. Baylor's Aaron Miller then stepped to the plate and sent the first pitch he saw over the right center field fence for a grand slam to tie the game 8-8. Shaver Hansen was then hit by a pitch, and Adam Hornung doubled him home to give the Bears a 9-8 lead.
Baylor tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth, and Brooks Pinckard came on in relief for the Bears to hold UAB scoreless over the final 2.2 innings to earn the win.
Miller's four RBI led Baylor offensively, while Hansen added three for the Bears. In addition to Hardy's performance, Merritt racked up three hits for UAB, and Towe added two, including his first home run of the year. First baseman Luke Stewart also homered in the game for UAB.
The Blazers struck first Sunday with a run in the opening inning on their way to building a seven-run lead. Merritt drew a leadoff walk, stole second, moved to third on a Crawford groundout and scored on a Brint Hardy RBI single. When the top of the order came up again in the third inning, it was the same Blazers doing the damage. Merritt led off the top of the third with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Crawford and scored on another RBI single from Hardy as UAB pushed its lead to 2-0.
Hardy went on to steal second base and tallied two steals in the game, moving into fourth place all alone on the UAB all-time steals list with 53 in his Blazer career.
UAB tacked on another run in the top of the fourth inning on Stewart's second home run of the year. In the fifth inning, Towe's two-run blast put the Blazers on top 5-0. Then, after UAB loaded the bases, Jamal Austin reached on a fielder's choice to score another run and extend the Blazer advantage to six runs.
The Blazers pushed their lead to 7-0 in the sixth inning when Crawford drew a leadoff walk and scored on a double from Hardy.
While UAB was building its lead, Pender was shutting down the Baylor bats. Through the first five innings, he allowed just four base runners and retired the side in order three times. Pender finally surrendered his first and only runs of the day in the sixth inning on a three-run homer from Hansen as Baylor started its comeback.
"Beau was great today," Shoop said. "He was able to throw three pitches for strikes, and any pitcher who does that is going to be successful. He certainly earned himself some innings with his performance today."
UAB and Baylor both wound up using six pitchers in the game. The Blazers out-hit the Bears 13-8 and racked up a total of 30 hits over their final two games this weekend.
UAB returns to Birmingham this week for a midweek series against UT Martin. The Blazers play at Young Memorial Field Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT and Wednesday at 3 p.m. CT. The team is then home next weekend for a four-game series with Harvard.
