The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Troy
Blazer Baseball Takes Control Early With Big Innings At Troy
4/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 13, 2010
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TROY, Ala. -- John Frost went 3-for-5 with a career-high four RBI on Tuesday night as the UAB baseball team won the first game of a midweek, home-and-home series against Troy, 11-5, at Riddle-Pace Field.
Shay Crawford allowed just one run and two hits over six complete innings for UAB to earn his second consecutive win and pitch the Blazers to their 20th victory of the season.
UAB (20-11) and Troy (16-16) will meet again Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. CT at Young Memorial Field in Birmingham. Fans can follow the action through Gametracker live stats and All-Access streaming video with an internet audio broadcast courtesy of the Blazers ISP Sports Network at uabsports.com.
Bradley Hicks joined Frost with three hits in the game for the Blazers, while Luke Stewart drove in three runs. The Blazers did most of their damage in back-to-back big innings in the third and fourth.
UAB found the scoreboard four times in the third inning to take the early lead. The Blazers loaded the bases with one out, and a sacrifice fly from Jonathan Merritt started the scoring. Frost added a two-out, two-run double, and Stewart followed with an RBI single off the right field wall to put UAB on top, 4-0.
The Blazers scored six more in the sixth after loading the bases again. A ground ball fielder's choice off the bat of Nick Crawford plated the first run, and UAB scored five more again with two outs. Frost brought two runs home with a single, and Stewart followed with a two-RBI double. Devin Hamilton added a run-scoring double of his own to close the scoring for the inning.
"John Frost has been an amazing hitter with two outs, and he had the key hits in both of those innings," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "A lot of guys had big nights tonight, but I thought John was the key offensively."
On the mound, Crawford retired the first nine Trojan batters of the game before allowing a leadoff triple in the fourth to Adam Bryant, who came home on a T.J. Rivera sacrifice fly to score the only Trojan run against Crawford. The left-hander struck out three and walked just one on the way to his second straight midweek win.
Crawford also earned the win last Tuesday at Alabama when he allowed only one unearned run over five innings of work.
"It's been really encouraging to see Shay pitch this way," Shoop said. "We need him and know what he is capable of. I feel like now we can get him back into the weekend mix."
Troy added four late runs, including a three-run homer from Ryan Ditthardt, against the UAB bullpen. Todd McRae led the Trojans with a 3-for-4 night at the plate.
With Tuesday's win, UAB reached the 20-win mark in its 31st game, the fastest a Blazer team has achieved 20 wins since the 2005 team did it in 30 games. UAB is now 7-1 in eight midweek games this season.
