The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Marshall
UAB Takes Game One Friday From Marshall, 6-4
4/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 10, 2009
CHARLESTON, W. Va. -- Brint Hardy stole his 30th base of the season, and Digger Towe blasted his sixth home run as the UAB baseball team opened this weekend's series against Marshall with a 6-4 win Friday.
Beau Pender pitched 5.1 innings, allowing four runs, to earn his third win of the season and help UAB snap a four-game losing skid. Blake Huddleston came out of the UAB bullpen to shut Marshall out over the final 3.2 innings and earn his second save of the year.
Marshall starter Arik Sikula took the loss after surrendering five runs in 4.2 innings.
"This is the kind of effort you have to have to win," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "I've said we can't leave it up to our offense to score double-digit runs every time out. These are the kinds of games you have to win. We did enough offensively, and we pitched the ball well."
The Blazers (17-14, 2-5 C-USA) and Thundering Herd (13-19, 4-6 C-USA) will be back in action Saturday at Noon (ET) at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, where Marshall plays its home Conference USA games.
In Friday's game, UAB jumped on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the third inning. With runners on first and second, Jonathan Merritt executed a hit-and-run that scored Austin Taylor and moved Jamal Austin to third. Austin then came home to score on a sacrifice fly from Nick Crawford.
The Blazers extended their lead to 4-0 in the fourth on a two-run homer from Towe. It was the sixth round-tripper of the season for Towe, who drove in his 39th and 40th runs in just his 26th game played.
UAB tacked on another run in the fifth when Hardy reached on a two-out single, stole second and then scored on an RBI double from Cody McMurry.
Hardy, the NCAA steals leader, stole two bases in the game to move into a tie with Mitch Jones (2000-03) for third place on UAB's career steals list with 72. He is now 30-for-32 on steal attempts this season and has swiped 19 straight without being caught.
Marshall chipped into the UAB lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. After Pender held the Thundering Herd without a hit through four frames, the first three Marshall batters hit safely in the fifth. Following a Brandon Casamassima single and a Rhett Stafford double, Kevin Shackelford plated two runs with a single to trim UAB's lead to 5-2.
The Thundering Herd then drew within one run in the sixth. Nate Lape led off the inning with a home run, and, after loading the bases with one out, Marshall got a sacrifice fly from Shackelford to cut the deficit to 5-4.
UAB answered back with a run in the top of the sixth due in large part to a pair of Marshall errors, pushing its lead back to two runs at 6-4.
Marshall put the leadoff runner on with a double in the seventh and moved him to third on a sacrifice bunt, but Huddleston struck out Lape and Victor Gomez in the heart of the Marshall order to end the inning.
That was the last real threat from Marshall. Huddleston allowed only a two-out single in the eighth and then sent the Herd down in order in the ninth.
"They're a dangerous team, and I was nervous until the end with Nate Lape on deck," Shoop said. "It was a great job by Blake to go one-two-three and not give them a chance."
McMurry led UAB offensively with two hits in the game, while Yeager and Stafford collected two hits apiece for Marshall.
