The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Baseball Meets Troy For Midweek Home-And-Home
4/12/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 12, 2010
Game Notes 
| Tuesday Gametracker
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team opens a five-game week Tuesday night on the road with game one of a midweek, home-and-home series against in-state foe Troy.
The Blazers travel Tuesday to meet the Trojans at 6 p.m. CT at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy, and the teams will then square off again Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. CT at Young Memorial Field in Birmingham.
UAB (19-11) is in search of its 20th win of the season and looking to rebound from a series loss at home over the weekend to Marshall. The Blazers have been successful in midweek contests in 2010 with a 6-1 record, including six midweek wins in a row.
Sophomore center fielder Jamal Austin has been the hottest Blazer hitter of late. Austin has hit safely in 14 of his past 15 games, including the last seven, to raise his batting average to a team-best .351. The UAB leadoff batter is 17 for his last 30 at the plate and also leads Conference USA with 16 stolen bases as one of three Blazers with double-digit steals (Nick Crawford, 13, and Jonathan Merritt, 10).
The Blazers will send junior left-hander Shay Crawford (1-2, 5.06 ERA) to the mound for Tuesday's game. Crawford threw five innings and allowed just one unearned run in his most recent outing last Tuesday as he pitched UAB to an 11-4 victory at Alabama.
Crawford is slated to face Troy junior right-hander Nick Ward (0-0, 7.40 ERA). Ward, who ranks second on the Trojan staff with 13 total appearances, will be making his fourth start of the season.
Troy (16-15) has posted impressive offensive numbers through the first half of the season. Despite being just one game over .500, the Trojans have out-scored their opponents by a combined total of 259-189. Troy is hitting .318 as a team with 49 home runs through 31 games.
Seven Trojan regulars are hitting better than .300, led by senior outfielder Steven Felix at .356. Junior infielder Adam Bryant tops the Troy lineup with 10 home runs, while junior infielder T.J. Rivera owns a team-high 32 RBI.
The all-time series between UAB and Troy has been tightly contested with the Trojans holding a slim, 18-17 advantage. The Blazers own a 12-5 lead in games played in Birmingham but trail, 12-4, in games played at Troy. Each team posted a home win last season with the Trojans winning, 11-3, on April 21 and the Blazers posting a 15-8 win one night later.
Fans can follow both games of the midweek series through Gametracker live stats at uabsports.com. All-Access streaming video paired with an internet audio broadcast courtesy of the Blazers ISP Sports Network will be available on the site for Wednesday's game.
