The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Blazer Baseball In Utah To Close Regular Season
5/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 18, 2011
Game Notes 
| Thursday Gametracker
SALT LAKE CITY -- The UAB baseball team is on the road this week to close its regular season with a non-conference series at Utah in its final action before next week's Conference USA Championship in Pearl, Miss.
The Blazers (27-25) and the Utes (27-18) will open the series Thursday and continue with games Friday and Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. MT (1 p.m. CT) in all three contests.
This Week's Schedule
Game 1 -- Thursday (12:00 p.m. MT)
Pitching Probables: RHP Blake Huddleston (UAB) vs. LHP Rick Anton (Utah)
Game 2 -- Friday (12:00 p.m. MT)
Pitching Probables: Ryan Woolley (UAB) vs. RHP Joe Pond (Utah)
Game 3 -- Saturday (12:00 p.m. MT)
Pitching Probables: TBA (UAB) vs. RHP Brock Duke (Utah)
Live Coverage
Fans can follow the action this weekend through Gametracker live stats (free) at uabsports.com.
About UAB
UAB is looking to bounce back from a three-game sweep at the hands of UCF last weekend in its final Conference USA series of the season. The Blazers finished with wins in four of their eight league series and have won all three of their series this year against non-conference opponents.
Two Blazers enter the weekend hitting better than .300. Jamal Austin, who has not seen his batting average dip below .347 all season, continues to lead UAB at .354, while Nick Crawford is up to .316 after going 12-for-19 over five games last week against Jacksonville State and UCF. Austin and Crawford have also combined to steal 42 bases in 51 attempts. Patrick Palmeiro has been the biggest run producer for the Blazers with eight home runs, 15 doubles and 38 RBI.
Blake Huddleston (1-5, 4.87 ERA) is slated to make his first series-opening start for UAB on Thursday, while Ryan Woolley (6-5, 2.82 ERA) will take the mound on Friday. Woolley leads C-USA with 95.2 innings pitched and also ranks among the league leaders in wins, ERA and strikeouts (67). The Blazers, which have not announced a Sunday starter, own a 4.30 team ERA.
Scouting Utah
Utah picked up an 8-7 victory over Utah Valley on Tuesday in its final midweek game of the season. The Utes wrapped up Mountain West Conference play last weekend, taking one out of three games from No. 8 TCU. Utah will finish in second place in the MWC behind the Horned Frogs. The Utes have played one other C-USA team this year, winning two of three games at Tulane last month.
The Utah lineup features the nation's second-leading hitter in C.J. Cron, whose .450 batting average trails only Chad Zurcher of Memphis (.458). Cron also paces the Utes with 14 home runs, 24 doubles and 56 RBI, slugging .828 for the year. Utah is hitting .300 as a team and features four other players hitting .312 or better, including James Brooks, who owns a .376 batting average and 22 doubles.
The Utah pitching staff carries a team ERA of 4.58. The Utes will send Rick Anton (7-1, 2.66 ERA) to the mound on Thursday, followed by Joe Pond (4-4, 4.55 ERA) on Friday and Brock Duke (6-2, 5.84 ERA) on Saturday.
All-Time Versus Utah
UAB and Utah will be meeting for the first time in baseball with Thursday's series opener.
The Last Time Out
UAB dropped three games last weekend to UCF, seeing the Knights win the first two games in their final inning at the plate. The Blazers lost 5-3 last Friday when UCF hit a pair of ninth-inning homers to break a 3-3 tie. UAB then suffered an unusual 9-0, extra-inning loss in the Saturday game after the Knights broke a scoreless tie with nine runs in the 10th inning. UCF then closed out the series with an 18-6 win on Sunday.
UAB's Ryan Woolley wound up with a no-decision in the Saturday game but allowed just four hits over nine scoreless innings, marking the third time this season he has pitched nine innings but the first time he has done so without allowing a run. Nick Crawford was the offensive catalyst for UAB in the series, going 7-for-13 (.538) at the plate with multiple hits in all three games. John Frost went 5-for-10 (.500) in the series, and Keith DePew was 5-for-11 (.455).
