The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazers To Host Mississippi State In Midweek Baseball Action
3/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 8, 2011
Game Notes 
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The UAB baseball team hosts Mississippi State in a midweek contest Wednesday with a 6:30 p.m. CT first pitch at Young Memorial Field.
The Blazers will be playing their eighth consecutive game at home and looking for their eighth straight win, while Mississippi State will be making its first road trip of the season.
Game Info
Wednesday (6:30 p.m. CT) -- Young Memorial Field
Pitching Probables: RHP Dillon Napoleon (UAB) vs. RHP Kendall Graveman (MSU)
Live Coverage
Wednesday's game will feature Gametracker live stats (free) and All-Access streaming video (premium) through uabsports.com.
About UAB
UAB (8-3) enters Tuesday's contest riding a seven-game winning streak after sweeping its second consecutive weekend series by taking three games from Cleveland State. The contest with Mississippi State will be the last of eight straight home games for the Blazers.
Offensively, Jamal Austin continues to lead both UAB and Conference USA with a .488 batting average and 10 stolen bases. Nick Crawford (.350), Patrick Palmeiro (.340) and Ryan Ussery (.333) are also hitting better than .300 for UAB. Palmeiro, the reigning C-USA Hitter of the Week, drove in nine runs in four games last week to raise his team-leading total to 14 for the season.
UAB has gotten solid pitching all season from both its starters and bullpen. The Blazers' 3.06 team ERA ranks fourth in C-USA, while its .237 opponent batting average ranks third in the league. UAB will send Dillon Napoleon (2-0, 1.80 ERA) to the mound to start Wednesday's contest.
UAB coach Brian Shoop is now in his fifth year with the Blazers. He owns a record of 118-121 (.494) at the school and a career record of 810-428-1 (.654) in 22 years.
Scouting Mississippi State
Mississippi State (10-3) won eight of its first nine games this season before going 2-2 this past weekend with a pair of wins over Georgia State and two losses to Iowa. Wednesday's contest will be the first road game for the Bulldogs after they opened with 13 straight games in Starkville, Miss.
Mississippi State is hitting .319 as a team and has out-scored its opponents 98-34 this season. Cody Freeman (.421) and Jarrod Parks (.400) pace the Bulldogs at the plate, while Parks has driven in 15 runs to lead a group of five MSU players with at least 10 RBI. Mississippi State has also been solid defensively, leading the SEC with a .986 team fielding percentage.
On the mound, the Bulldogs have compiled a team ERA of 2.54 and are holding opponents to a .207 batting average. MSU is slated to start right-hander Kendall Graveman in Wednesday's matchup. Graveman owns a 1-0 record with a 2.25 ERA in two starts.
Mississippi State is coached by John Cohen, who owns a career record of 379-261-1 in 12 years as a head coach and a 58-65 mark in three years at Mississippi State.
All-Time Versus Mississippi State
UAB trails 32-9 in the all-time series with Mississippi State, dating back to 1982. The Blazers are 5-14 against the Bulldogs in games played in Birmingham. UAB's most recent home game against MSU came in 2009 at Regions Park in Hoover with the Bulldogs earning a 10-0 win. The teams played just once last season, a 6-5 Mississippi State victory in Starkville on Feb. 23, 2010 in a game that served as UAB's season-opener. The Blazers held a 5-4 lead in the game before Mississippi State escaped with back-to-back homers in the bottom of the ninth.
Recapping Last Week
UAB ran its winning streak to seven straight games with three wins against Cleveland State last weekend. It is the Blazers' longest winning streak since posting seven straight victories in early March 2006. The Blazers also posted their second straight weekend series sweep, accomplishing that feat for the first time since the 2005 season.
Patrick Palmeiro was the offensive catalyst for UAB, driving in nine runs in UAB's four total wins last week, including eight in the three wins over Cleveland State. In Friday's doubleheader alone, he homered, doubled twice and drove in six runs. Jamal Austin and Nick Crawford each hit .500 (7-for-14) for the week as Austin raised his season average to .488. Austin also stole four bases last week with all of them coming in a midweek game with Jacksonville State as he tied his career-high and came up one short of a UAB single-game record.
The Blazers got good starting pitching again as Dillon Napoleon and Ryan Woolley each worked seven complete innings for the second straight weekend in Friday's doubleheader. Napoleon and Nance combined to strike out 22 batters (11 each) and walk just one. Ryan Nance continued his strong start out of the bullpen with 3.1 scoreless innings over two relief appearances last week. He has still yet to allow a run and has struck out 12 batters in 8.2 total innings this spring. As a pitching staff, UAB posted a 1.75 team ERA over four games last week, lowering its overall ERA to 3.06 for the season.
