The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
San Diego
UAB Baseball Drops Friday Game At San Diego, 5-2
3/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2010
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SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- The UAB baseball team dropped a 5-2 decision Friday to San Diego at the Toreros' Cunningham Stadium on the second day of the San Diego State Invitational.
The Blazers struggled to get their offense going, facing a top pitching prospect for the second straight day. San Diego ace Sammy Solis held UAB to two unearned runs on three hits while striking out seven batters in seven innings to earn the win.
A day earlier, UAB drew the task of facing San Diego State All-American Addison Reed on the tournament's opening day.
"Like I told our guys after the game, we saw a potential first-rounder yesterday and a first- or second-rounder today, so it was a tough draw for us," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "This team is going to hit the ball and score some runs; we've just seen two really good pitchers the past two days."
UAB (7-5) scored one of its runs in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Jonathan Merritt and managed its second run in the seventh when Nick Crawford walked, stole second and third and scored on a throwing error. San Diego committed four errors on the day, but UAB was only able to turn them into two runs.
San Diego (8-7) managed single runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings against UAB starter Ryan Woolley and held a slim 3-2 lead through seven innings. The Toreros then added some cushion with two runs in the eighth courtesy of an RBI single from Victor Sanchez and a pair of UAB errors.
Woolley pitched effectively but took the loss after allowing three runs on six hits over six innings. San Diego reliever Matt Hauser took over for Solis in the eighth and retired the Blazers in order in the final two innings for the save.
Merritt, Jamal Austin and John Frost collected the three UAB hits on the afternoon, while San Diego's Tony Strazzara led the Toreros by going 2-for-3 with two RBI.
UAB is back in action Saturday at 2 p.m. PT (4 p.m. ET) against San Francisco at San Diego State's Tony Gwynn Stadium. Fans can follow the action through Gametracker live stats on uabsports.com.
