The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Troy
Palmeiro Drives In Four, Mallard Earns Win Tuesday At Troy
4/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 19, 2011
TROY, Ala. -- Patrick Palmeiro drove in a season-high four runs Tuesday and came up a triple shy of the cycle in the UAB baseball team's 8-1 road victory over Troy at Riddle-Pace Field.
Chase Mallard allowed just one run in six innings, and the Blazers (21-16) opened up a close game with six runs over the final four frames to hand the Trojans (26-10) their third straight loss and snap a three-game losing skid of their own.
Coy Arrowood, making the start in center field in place of a sick Jamal Austin, went 3-for-5 and scored two runs. The Blazers played Tuesday's game without both Austin and a banged up Ryan Ussery in the outfield.
"This was a great team win," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "I'm really proud of our guys to come in here and play the way they did and beat the team that is leading the Sun Belt Conference on their home field where they are really good."
Troy's pitchers did not help themselves Tuesday, combining for three errors that led to four unearned runs. Three of those came in the sixth inning as UAB played small ball to give itself some cushion.
Andrew Manning reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt when Troy reliever Nathan Hill overthrew first base to put runners at first and third with one out. An RBI single from Arrowood sandwiched between successful squeeze bunts by Harry Clark and Nick Crawford turned a 2-1 lead into a 5-1 advantage.
UAB then turned to the long ball in the seventh inning when Palmeiro hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast, to extend the lead to 7-1. Palmeiro, who played right field for the first time this season, also drove in UAB's final run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning.
"Palmeiro's home run was probably the farthest ball I've seen hit this year," Shoop said. "It was so good to see the ball coming off the bat from several guys with some authority tonight, even on some of our outs. That's encouraging and hopefully can give our hitters some more confidence moving forward."
On the mound, Mallard turned in the longest outing of his freshman campaign as he earned his first career win. The right-hander allowed five hits, struck out two and walked just one.
Mallard surrendered the only Trojan run in the fourth inning on back-to-back doubles by T.J. Rivera and Boone Shear. After finding some two-out trouble in the fifth, he managed to pitch out of a bases-loaded situation and then worked a three-up, three-down sixth before turning the ball over to the bullpen.
The trio of Jacob German, Trey Waltman and Mark McKinley combined to hold Troy scoreless over the final three innings to close out the win.
"Mallard pitched very well," Shoop said. "He's been such a pick-me-up for our team. He keeps climbing the pitching ladder and earning more innings by the way he throws every time he goes out there."
Troy managed just seven hits against the UAB pitching, and no Trojan player managed more than one hit in the game. Troy starter Shane McCain suffered the loss after pitching 4.2 innings and allowing the first two UAB runs.
Tuesday's game was the only road contest in an 11-game stretch for UAB. The Blazers will now return home for five in a row starting with a three-game Conference USA series against Rice. First pitch in Friday's series opener is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Young Memorial Field, and the teams will then play a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m.
