The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Houston
UAB Drops Twinbill To Houston On Homer-Filled Day
5/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 1, 2010
Game 1 Box Score | PDF Box Score 
Game 2 Box Score | PDF Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team dropped both games of a Saturday doubleheader to Houston, falling by scores of 16-11 and 7-4 on a humid, cloud-covered day at Young Memorial Field.
First baseman Luke Stewart provided some offensive highlights for UAB with his 14th and 15th home runs of the season in the second game, but Houston powered out a total of seven homers over the two contests on a day that featured the wind blowing out to right field.
Stewart finished the day 5-for-10 at the plate with five RBI and three runs scored in the two games combined to lead the Blazers offensively.
With the pair of victories, Houston claimed a 2-1 series victory over UAB and improved to 19-24 overall (6-9 C-USA). The Blazers will now be tied with the Cougars in the Conference USA standings after falling to 22-20 overall (6-9 C-USA).
The teams were playing a doubleheader instead of the originally scheduled single games Saturday and Sunday due to Sunday's threat for inclement weather.
UAB now has five days off before returning to action Friday with the first game of another C-USA series at Memphis.
Game 1: Houston 16, UAB 11
Houston took the lead for good in the fourth inning of game one and fought off a pair of Blazer comeback attempts for a 16-11 victory.
Five of the Cougars' seven home runs on the day came in game one, including two off the bat of catcher Chris Wallace, who joined right fielder Zak Presley and left fielder Caleb Ramsey with three RBI in the game.
Stewart collected three hits and drove in thee runs for UAB, while center fielder Jamal Austin was 2-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored.
Houston built a 9-2 lead before UAB clawed back into the game with five runs in the bottom of the seventh.
All the Blazer seventh-inning runs came with two outs, starting with a two-RBI double from shortstop Jonathan Merritt. A pair of RBI singles from Stewart and third baseman Andrew Manning along with a run-scoring wild pitch brought UAB within 9-7 with the bases still loaded. But Chase Dempsay, Houston's third pitcher of the inning, induced a fly ball out to maintain the Cougars' lead.
After two runs from Houston and one from UAB in the eighth, the Cougars broke things open with a five-spot of their own in the top of the ninth. Back-to-back home runs from first baseman Matt Murphy and Wallace kick-started the scoring as Houston opened its lead up to 16-8.
UAB wasn't finished yet, but the Blazers' rally in the ninth amounted to only three runs, again with two outs, on a two-RBI triple from Austin and another wild pitch.
Houston starter William Kankel earned the win with six and two-thirds solid innings. Kankel allowed six runs and was charged with four of UAB's five seventh-inning scores, but all of those were unearned because of two Cougar errors in the frame.
UAB starter Beau Pender suffered the loss, surrendering seven runs on five hits over five innings of work.
Game 2: Houston 7, UAB 4
Houston starter Eric Brooks allowed just three runs over seven innings to pitch the Cougars to a 7-4 win in game two Saturday.
Stewart went deep twice to match his total of 15 homers from last year, tying the sixth-highest single-season total in school history. Unfortunately for UAB, both of Stewart's blasts were solo shots, as was Merritt's long ball in the first inning.
An RBI single from second baseman Nick Crawford in the fifth frame accounted for the only other UAB run of the game.
Houston hit just two of its seven homers in game two, but one was a three-run shot from center fielder Joel Ansley, who had only five official at-bats over the two games because he also drew six walks.
Ansley's homer helped Houston build a 6-3 lead through the middle innings, and the Blazers' best chance for a comeback came in the eighth. Stewart led of with a homer, and UAB then put runners at the corners with one out, but Mo Wiley came out of the Cougar bullpen to retire the next two batters on a strikeout and a fly out.
Wiley then struck out the side in the ninth to preserve the victory for Houston.
Brooks earned the win, while UAB starter Shay Crawford took the loss after giving up five runs on six hits in six and one-third innings. UAB relievers Benji Waite and Nick Graffeo then combined to hold the Cougars to two runs on three hits the rest of the way.
Nick Crawford, Stewart and Merritt paced UAB with two hits each, while Houston catcher M.P. Cokinos led all players with three hits.
UAB's Digger Towe, who has been sidelined for more than six weeks because of injury, drew a large ovation from the Young Memorial Field crowd when he stepped into the box for a pinch-hit at-bat in the eighth inning. Towe had been out since suffering his injury in the San Diego State Invitational back on March 14.
