The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Troy
UAB Baseball Falls As Troy Splits Midweek Series
4/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 14, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The first eight batters in the UAB order recorded a hit Wednesday night, but the Blazers couldn't string enough of them together in an 8-4 baseball loss to Troy at Young Memorial Field.
Benji Waite pitched five innings without allowing a hit for UAB (20-12) but came out of the game on a pitch count. The Trojans (17-16) then got to the Blazer bullpen for all eight of their runs over the final four innings as they earned a split of the midweek series between the teams.
"Benji was terrific, and it was hard to take him out," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "But he had reached his pitch count, and we knew we needed to pull him if we wanted him to be available at all this weekend. Our bullpen just couldn't hold it tonight."
Ryan Ditthardt and T.J. Rivera each went 2-for-3 with two RBI for Troy. Ditthardt had a two-RBI double against UAB reliever Colin McMurry as part of a three-run sixth inning that put the Trojans ahead.
After adding a single run in the seventh, Troy tacked on three more in the eighth on RBI singles from Rivera and Shohei Fujita, followed by a bases-loaded walk from Chad Watson. The eighth-inning scoring capped a stretch of seven unanswered runs as the Trojans turned a 2-0 deficit into a 7-2 lead.
McMurry was charged with the loss for UAB, allowing three runs in two-thirds of an inning of relief. He was one of five Blazer pitchers to see the mound in relief of Waite. Thomas Austin earned the win for Troy, pitching two and one-third innings out of the bullpen and allowing UAB's first two runs.
Jacob German accounted for the only UAB scoring through the first seven innings with a two-out, two-RBI single in the fourth. But a night after doing most of its damage with two outs, UAB struggled to get the big hit Wednesday and finished with 11 runners left on base.
"We had our chances," Shoop said. "Ten hits is enough to win; we just didn't get them in the right spots or at the right times."
Jonathan Merritt and Luke Stewart finished with two hits for UAB, while Jamal Austin singled in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to nine games.
The Blazers tacked on two late runs on RBI singles from Andrew Manning in the eighth inning and Stewart in the ninth. Troy also added a run in the ninth to wrap up the scoring.
Waite walked three and struck out two while holding Troy hitless on the way to a no-decision. He worked around leadoff walks in the second and fifth innings and pitched efficiently, needing just 64 pitches in his five innings of work.
UAB now travels to Greenville, N.C., this weekend as the Blazers get back into Conference USA action with a three-game series against East Carolina starting Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
