The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Jacksonville State
Late Double Plays Thwart Blazer Rally Chances Against JSU
5/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 11, 2010
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Wednesday Gametracker
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team gave itself chances Tuesday night, but missed opportunities and inopportune bounces late in the game cost the Blazers in a 7-6 loss to Jacksonville State at Young Memorial Field.
Shortstop Jonathan Merritt homered for the fourth time in five games and drove in three runs for UAB (24-22), and second baseman Nick Crawford went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored in the loss. Digger Towe, coming off an injury and making his first start since mid-March, nearly left the park in the second inning but settled for a double.
Jacksonville State right fielder Kyle Bluestein was 2-for-4 with two RBI, while first baseman Steven Leach and catcher Andrew Edge also drove in two runs each for the Gamecocks (24-21).
The teams will meet again for the fourth and final time this season Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. CT in Jacksonville, Ala. The Gamecocks have won two of the three games so far with the road team taking each contest and the winning team scoring seven runs each time.
Wednesday's game will air live in Birmingham on WJOX-AM 690 courtesy of the Blazers ISP Sports Network and can also be followed through Gametracker live stats online at uabsports.com.
UAB looked poised to rally in each of the final three innings Tuesday, but double plays derailed its plans in all three.
The Blazers loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh but managed just a single run on a ground-ball double play off the bat of first baseman Luke Stewart as they clawed within one run at 7-6. The twin killings that followed in the eighth and ninth innings were more unlikely.
With runners on the corners and one out in the eighth, center fielder Jamal Austin hit a low liner to JSU second baseman Bert Smith, who doubled off base runner Bradley Hicks at first. In the ninth, after a leadoff single, Crawford broke from first on a full count but a one-hopper from Merritt again found Smith, who was heading toward the second base bag. Smith stepped on second and threw on to first to stifle another Blazer opportunity.
"We lined into one double play and hit into another one with the runner going," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "The odds of both of those happening are not very good, but some nights things go your way and some nights they don't."
JSU reliever Todd Hornsby was on the mound for the double plays in the final two innings and picked up the save.
Fellow reliever Bill Henke earned the win, quieting the Blazer bats through the middle innings after Merritt's three-run, third-inning homer off JSU starter Malcolm Thomas tied the game and a sacrifice fly from Austin in the fourth put UAB on top, 5-4.
That lead lasted until the sixth inning when Jacksonville State pushed three runs across and took back the lead at 7-5 on a two-run homer from Edge off of UAB reliever Blake Huddleston, who suffered the loss.
The other four JSU runs all came in the third inning against UAB starter Ryan Woolley. The Gamecocks strung together five hits in the frame, but all four runs scored with two outs and were unearned as the result of a UAB error.
Shay Crawford was the third Blazer pitcher of the night and was dominant in his three innings of work. The left-hander held Jacksonville State scoreless on one hit while striking out six of the 12 batters he faced.
Towe got the nod Tuesday as the Blazers' designated hitter and made his first start since March 14 against Cal State Fullerton, a game he left with an injury after a collision at home plate. He has made pinch-hit appearances in each of the past two weekends but was penciled into the starting lineup again for the first time Tuesday.
