The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Hosts Tulane For Pivotal Conference Baseball Weekend
5/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 13, 2010
Game Notes 
| Friday Gametracker | Watch Live
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- There will be plenty of storylines to keep an eye on this weekend when UAB hosts Tulane in a three-game Conference USA baseball series to wrap up the home portion of its schedule at Young Memorial Field.
The primary focus when the teams take the field Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT for the series opener will be positioning in the conference standings.
With two weekends of league play remaining, the Blazers (25-22, 8-10 C-USA) and Green Wave (29-20, 8-10 C-USA) sit in a three-way tie with East Carolina for fifth place. The winner of the series will improve its chances of earning a spot in the year-end Conference USA tournament, which will feature a reduced field of six teams for the first time.
Also of interest this weekend are a pair of Blazers who are chasing individual milestones.
UAB head coach Brian Shoop enters the Tulane series one win shy of 800 for his career. The fourth-year Blazer skipper, who is in his 21st overall season as a head coach, picked up his 799th career victory Wednesday night with UAB's 9-7 win at Jacksonville State.
Shortstop Jonathan Merritt scored twice in that game to move into sole possession of second place on the school's career runs scored list with 188. He needs just one run this weekend to tie the all-time record held by Shayne Carnes (1995-98) and two to break it.
Merritt is one of 12 players and team personnel who will be honored prior to the second game of the series on Saturday with the annual Senior Day ceremony. Saturday's first pitch is set for 2 p.m. CT with the third and final game of the weekend slated for Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
The Blazers will be looking for their first series win against Tulane since 2007 after the Green Wave won two out of three in Birmingham in 2008 and did the same in New Orleans last year.
As always, uabsports.com will feature All-Access streaming video and Gametracker live stats for all three games. The Saturday contest will air live in Birmingham on WJOX-AM 690 with a broadcast courtesy of the Blazers ISP Sports Network.
UAB split its midweek series with Jacksonville State after taking two out of three from Memphis on the road last weekend in league play. Merritt has been the offensive catalyst lately with five home runs in the past six games. He has raised his RBI total to 44, trailing only first baseman Luke Stewart's 51. Stewart also leads the Blazers in home runs with 16, while center fielder Jamal Austin continues to pace UAB with a .366 batting average.
Tulane, playing its second straight road series, has been off since claiming a 2-1 series victory last weekend at Houston. Third baseman Rob Segedin leads the Green Wave in virtually every offensive category, posting a .437 batting average (highest in C-USA), 13 home runs and 49 RBI.
The probable pitching matchup for Friday's series opener features UAB right-hander Mitch Kloskowski (4-4, 4.82 ERA) against Tulane righty Conrad Flynn (3-5, 4.15 ERA).
