The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
In-State Rivals UAB, JSU Meet Tuesday In Birmingham
2/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 28, 2011
Game Notes 
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB and Jacksonville State baseball teams will play the first of four scheduled meetings this season when they square off Tuesday at 3 p.m. CT at Young Memorial Field.
The Blazers enter the game at 4-3 and will be playing the first of five games this week. Jacksonville State comes into the contest at 3-2.
Game Info
Tuesday (3 p.m. CT) -- Young Memorial Field
Pitching Probables: LHP David Hayes (UAB) vs. RHP Aaron Elias (JSU)
Live Coverage
Tuesday's game will feature Gametracker live stats (free) and All-Access streaming video (premium) through uabsports.com.
About UAB
UAB continues its current nine-game home stand with Tuesday's midweek contest against Jacksonville State. The Blazers are coming off a three-game sweep of Xavier over the weekend, logging a .337 team batting average against the Musketeers to go along with a 2.67 team ERA.
Jamal Austin continues to pace the Blazer attack at the plate. The junior center fielder went 7-for-13 (.538) in the Xavier series to raise his team-leading batting average to .483, the second-best in Conference USA. He also leads the league with six stolen bases. Third baseman Patrick Palmeiro (.310) leads the Blazers with four extra-base hits, while he and right fielder Ryan Ussery (.308) are tied for the team lead with five RBI.
On the mound, junior left-hander David Hayes is scheduled to make his third appearance and second midweek start Tuesday against JSU. Hayes has worked six innings, allowing three runs on three hits for a 4.50 ERA. Pitching has been a strength for UAB, which enters the week with a 3.84 team ERA.
UAB coach Brian Shoop is now in his fifth year with the Blazers. He owns a record of 114-121 (.485) at the school and a career record of 806-428-1 (.653).
Scouting Jacksonville State
Jacksonville State swept a three-game series on the road over the weekend at Middle Tennessee. It was the first weekend series for the Gamecocks, which opened their season with a pair of midweek losses last Tuesday and Wednesday to Auburn and Kennesaw State. JSU pulled out two of its three wins against Middle Tennessee in extra innings, including a 14-inning win in the middle game of the series.
Jacksonville State is hitting .313 as a team with five regulars hitting better than .300 individually. First baseman Ben Waldrip and third baseman/catcher Sam Eberle have been the biggest run producers for the Gamecocks with nine and eight RBI, respectively. Both have also hit a pair of home runs. Waldrip, who is hitting .440 through five games, is the reigning Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Week.
JSU will send junior right-hander Aaron Elias to the mound on Tuesday against UAB. Elias worked 4.1 innings of relief in the team's season opener against Auburn, allowing three runs on six hits. As a team, the Gamecocks own a 4.86 ERA.
Jacksonville State coach Jim Case is in his 10th year at the school and owns an overall record of 292-237 (.552). Case served alongside UAB head coach Brian Shoop when both were on Ron Polk's staff at Mississippi State in the mid-1980s, and he also served as an assistant coach at UAB from 1987-97.
All-Time Versus Jacksonville State
UAB and Jacksonville State have met 43 times with the Gamecocks owning a 24-19 lead in the series. The teams have played 12 times over the past three seasons with Jacksonville State winning seven of those. The Blazers and Gamecocks split four meetings last year with each team winning twice on the road and losing twice at home. All four games were decided by two runs or fewer. UAB picked up victories in Jacksonville by scores of 7-5 (April 27, 2010) and 9-7 (May 12, 2010), while Jacksonville State won in Birmingham by scores of 7-5 (April 28, 2010) and 7-6 (May 11, 2010).
Recapping The Sweep of Xavier
UAB won all three games from Xavier over the weekend to record its first series sweep since taking three games from Western Illinois in Birmingham last March. John Frost completed the sweep with his walk-off single on Sunday to lift UAB to a 7-6, come-from-behind win.
Starting pitching was key in the first two games as junior Dillon Napoleon and senior Ryan Woolley each worked seven innings and allowed only two runs to earn the wins on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Blazers also got the bats going against the Musketeers. After tallying 33 hits through its first five games this season, UAB pounded out 27 hits in the final two games of the Xavier series, including a season-high 15 hits in Saturday's 11-2 win. UAB did not have a single inning with more than two runs through those first five games but posted three innings with three or more runs over the last two games against the Musketeers.
Jamal Austin continued his torrid offensive pace, hitting .538 (7-for-13) with multiple hits in all three games against Xavier. He is the only Blazer to hit safely in all seven games this spring. In addition to good starting pitching, the Blazers continued to get a strong effort from junior reliever Ryan Nance, who has now held opponents without a run on just two hits in 5.1 innings out of the bullpen.
