The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
UCF
Big Innings Doom Blazer Baseball In Series Opener At UCF
4/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 2, 2010
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ORLANDO, Fla. -- The UAB baseball team saw an early lead evaporate Friday night as UCF scored 16 unanswered runs on its way to a series-opening 16-7 victory in Conference USA action at Jay Bergman Field.
UCF scored at least three runs in four different innings as the Knights improved to 18-10 and 2-2 in conference play. UAB lost for just the second time in its past 10 games to fall to 15-9 overall and 2-2 in the league.
The teams will be back in action Saturday with a doubleheader to close out the weekend. Game one is slated for 2 p.m. ET with game two to follow at 6:30 p.m. ET.
UAB got off to a good start Friday with a five-run second inning, sending 10 batters to the plate with three hits, two walks and two hit batters. Bradley Hicks plated two runs with a double for the Blazers, which also scored runs on a single from Ryan Ussery, a Jamal Austin groundout and a passed ball.
But the tide turned in the next half inning as UAB breakdowns defensively led to four UCF runs. Blazer errors on the infield allowed both Ryan Breen and Chris Taladay to reach base, and a two-RBI double from Austin Johnston highlighted the scoring as UCF sent 10 batters of their own to the plate.
Three innings later, 13 UCF batters came to the plate. A run-scoring single from Taladay and a two-RBI double from Beau Taylor forced UAB starter Mitch Kloskowski from the game, and then a single from Derek Luciano scored two more runs, giving the Knights a 10-5 advantage.
"We had the focus and the effort we needed when we got to the park tonight, but we didn't have the execution," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "We didn't execute on the mound, we made bad plays defensively, and we did a poor job of making adjustments at the plate."
Kloskowski took the loss after being charged with nine runs -- six earned -- in four and two-thirds innings. UCF's Owen Dew earned the win, pitching five complete innings and keeping the Blazers off the scoreboard with the exception of the big second frame.
After Dew exited, the Knights went to left-hander Johnny Sedlock, who pitched three shutout innings before allowing two late runs in the ninth.
UCF added three runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth against the Blazer bullpen to put the game out of reach. The only UCF run that did not come as part of a big inning came back in the third when Chris Duffy hit his league-leading 13th home run of the year.
Austin and John Frost led UAB with two hits each as Frost extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Luciano and Duffy each logged three hits for UCF, which pounded out 17 total hits as a team.
