The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Alabama A&M
UAB Sweeps Tuesday Doubleheader From Alabama A&M
4/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 14, 2009
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Digger Towe collected a total of four hits and six RBI over two games Tuesday as the UAB baseball team swept a doubleheader from Alabama A&M at Young Memorial Field.
The Blazers took Tuesday's first game 12-3 and then picked up an 11-1 victory in the nightcap. Both games were seven-inning contests. With the wins, UAB improves to 20-16 on the season, while Alabama A&M falls to 10-19.
UAB's Brint Hardy, the NCAA Division I steals leader in the latest rankings, added three stolen bases on the day to raise his season total to 34 in 36 attempts. He has now moved into a tie for second place on the UAB career steals list with 76, matching Kyle Towner (1991-94).
Hardy has reached that number in just three seasons with the Blazers, and he owns 94 stolen bases for his entire collegiate career, including his freshman season at Birmingham-Southern in 2006.
After playing for five straight days, UAB is now off until Friday when the team returns to Conference USA action with the first game of a weekend series at Southern Miss.
Game One Recap
In Tuesday's first game, UAB scored 11 of its runs from the third through the fifth inning on its way to a 12-3 victory.
The Blazers got a strong pitching performance from starter James Oliver, who went five innings and allowed two runs on the way to his second win of the year. Oliver did not allow Alabama A&M to score until the top of the fifth inning when UAB had already built a 9-0 lead.
The Blazers scored three in the third and three in the sixth, but their biggest inning was a five-run fourth. Nick Crawford plated two runs in the inning on a single through the right side, and Austin Taylor brought two more runs home with a double down the left field line. Kevin Cope later recorded a sacrifice fly to score the final run of the inning.
Crawford was one of four Blazers to tally two hits in the game, joining Towe, Jonathan Merritt and Keith DePew. Two of Towe's team-leading three RBI in the game came on a two-run double in the third inning.
Diego Lopez and Marcus Spencer recorded two hits each to lead Alabama A&M, which scored two runs in the fifth inning and one more in the seventh.
Juan Flores started on the mound for the Bulldogs and took the loss after surrendering all 12 runs -- seven earned -- in five innings.
Game Two Recap
UAB started slowly in Tuesday's second game but picked up the pace over the final three innings to ride out an 11-1 victory.
UAB starter Colin McMurry turned in another impressive pitching performance to earn his second win of the season. The freshman left-hander, making his second start, pitched a career-high six innings and allowed just one run on four hits. He also struck out a career-high five batters.
Alabama A&M starter A.J. Campbell pitched well through the early innings but took the loss after surrendering eight runs in five innings of work.
The Blazers went the first three innings without managing a hit off Campbell before finding the scoreboard in the fourth inning. Cody McMurry scored the first run of the game after doubling to lead off the fourth and then stealing third and scoring on an Alabama A&M error.
UAB then put up a seven-spot in the fifth inning to take control. Hardy started the scoring for the inning with a two-RBI single, and Towe later followed with one of his own. Crawford also logged a two-RBI single in the inning, and Trey Early picked up a hit to score the seventh run of the frame and notch his first career RBI.
Alabama A&M managed its run in the top of the sixth on an RBI single from LaDale Hayes, but UAB picked up three more runs in the bottom of the frame to close out the scoring.
Towe and Early each recorded multiple hits in the game for UAB, while five different players recorded one hit apiece for Alabama A&M.
