The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
San Diego State
Blazer Rally Falls Short Thursday At San Diego State
3/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2010
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SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- The UAB baseball team rallied for six runs in the ninth inning Thursday but came up one run short in an 8-7 loss to San Diego State on the first day of the SDSU Invitational.
The Blazers managed four hits in the ninth, drew two walks and had the benefit of a pair of San Diego State errors as they sent 12 batters to the plate. UAB chipped away one run at a time, and by the time Jamal Austin reached on a three-base error to score Bradley Hicks, the Blazers had the tying run at third base.
Back-to-back walks from Aztec reliever John Pecoraro to Nick Crawford and Jonathan Merritt loaded the bases, but Pecoraro then struck out UAB cleanup hitter Digger Towe to preserve the win.
"Digger was down after the game, but he's the guy we want at the plate in that situation," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "I told him the next time we're in that spot, I hope he's up there again because we have tons of faith in him."
UAB (7-4) continues play Friday at 2 p.m. PT (4 p.m. CT) at San Diego in the only one of the Blazers' four games at the tournament not played at San Diego State's Tony Gwynn Stadium. Fans can follow Friday's action through Gametracker live stats at uabsports.com and live video at usdtoreros.com, the official site of San Diego Athletics.
In Thursday's game, UAB found itself behind 8-0 through seven innings against San Diego State starter Addison Reed before getting to the Aztec bullpen. Reed, an All-American in 2009, held the Blazers to one hit over his seven innings of work. The Aztec ace faced the minimum in six of those innings and struck out seven batters on his way to the win.
"Addison Reed was as good as I've seen," Shoop said. "He just overmatched us. But I'm proud of the way we hung in there and clawed back in the late innings against their bullpen."
San Diego State (6-7) got on the board with an RBI double from Jordan Van Hoosier in the fourth inning and added another on a sac fly from Cory Vaughn in the sixth. The Aztecs then took a commanding lead with six unearned runs in the seventh. All six runs scored with two outs after a UAB error kept the inning alive against UAB reliever Blake Huddleston.
UAB finally broke through with a run in the eighth against Aztec reliever Drew Leary when pinch hitter Bradley Hicks singled home Ryan Ussery, cutting the deficit to seven runs before the final inning.
Mitch Kloskowski took the loss for UAB despite allowing just two runs over five and one-third innings. Kloskowski retired the first eight batters of the game and finished his night with six strikeouts.
Luke Stewart, who managed the only hit for UAB against Reed, went 2-for-4 at the plate to lead UAB. Towe and Ussery also reached base twice for the Blazers.
Brandon Decker led San Diego State with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate, while Vaughn and Van Hoosier each tallied two hits and two RBI.
