The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Welcomes C-USA Leader East Carolina This Weekend
4/2/2009 12:00:00β―AM | Baseball
April 2, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team will play host to the 16th-ranked team in the country this weekend when Conference USA-leading East Carolina pays a visit for a three-game series at Young Memorial Field.
The series gets underway Friday night with the first pitch set for 7 p.m. (CT) and continues Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 11 a.m.
The Saturday and Sunday contests will air live in Birmingham on WSPZ-AM 690, while fans can follow the action all weekend through Gametracker live stats and All-Access streaming video at www.uabsports.com.
This weekend's games pit the top two hitting teams in Conference USA against each other. East Carolina leads the league in team batting average at .361, followed by UAB at .335. Each ECU starter hits better than .300, while UAB has seven regulars hitting above that mark. Individually, five of the top seven hitters in the league come from the two teams.
UAB is 16-10 after a pair of midweek wins in a home-and-home series with Samford. The Blazers defeated the Bulldogs 17-7 at home Tuesday and picked up a 9-2 road win Wednesday. UAB is 1-2 in Conference USA and will jump back into league play this weekend after stepping out of conference last weekend for a three-game sweep of Savannah State.
Digger Towe leads UAB at the plate with a .425 batting average and 36 RBI, while Luke Stewart -- the reigning C-USA Co-Hitter of the Week -- and Cody McMurry are tied for the team lead with eight home runs each. UAB has been dangerous on the base paths all season, stealing 62 bases in 68 attempts, led by Brint Hardy with 24 steals.
The Blazers own a team ERA of 4.83, and probable Sunday starter Beau Pender leads the starting rotation with a 2.60 ERA and 34 strikeouts. Friday starter Shay Crawford is close behind with 32 strikeouts and owns a 3-2 record in eight starts. Saturday starter Kyle Roberson has won his past four starts, lowering his ERA to 4.62 in the process.
East Carolina enters the weekend at 22-5 overall and sitting in first place in the conference at 5-1. The Pirates took two out of three games at Marshall last weekend and then won a pair of midweek games, defeating Elon 15-4 and winning 14-4 at NC State. East Carolina came into the week ranked in every major poll with a highest ranking of No. 16 in both the NCBWA and Baseball America polls.
Trent Whitehead leads the way offensively at .431 for ECU, followed by Brandon Henderson at .405 and Ryan Wood at .404. Kyle Roller owns a team-best eight home runs and 36 RBI for a squad that has combined for 44 homers on the year.
The Pirate pitching staff carries a 4.07 ERA into the series. This weekend's rotation has combined for a 10-1 record on the mound, led by Friday starter Chris Heston at 4-0. Saturday starter Seth Manness is 2-0 with a 34-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and Sunday starter Kevin Brandt is 4-1.
East Carolina leads UAB 15-3 in the all-time series, dating back to the first meeting in 2002. The Pirates swept a three-game series in Greenville last season, but the Blazers took two out of three in Birmingham in 2007, the last time UAB hosted East Carolina at Young Memorial Field.
