The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Southern Miss
Big Innings Hurt UAB In Saturday Loss At Southern Miss
5/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 7, 2011
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HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Patrick Palmeiro's three-run homer accounted for most of the UAB scoring on Saturday afternoon in a 13-4 Conference USA baseball loss at No. 12 Southern Miss.
Palmeiro's blast tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth, but Southern Miss responded with seven runs in the bottom of the fourth to open a string of 10 unanswered runs on the way to its second win of the weekend.
The first-place Golden Eagles (35-11, 13-4 C-USA) secured a series victory over UAB (25-21, 9-11 C-USA) for the first time since 2007. The teams will close the series Sunday with a 1 p.m. CT first pitch at Pete Taylor Park.
Southern Miss starter Geoffrey Thomas pitched seven innings Saturday and allowed only three runs, all unearned because of an error, on seven hits. Thomas posted his league-leading 10th win of the season.
UAB pitchers struggled uncharacteristically to find the strike zone, walking a season-high 11 batters and hitting one. Eight of those 12 free passes came around to score. Blazer starter Blake Huddleston took the loss after being charged with the first eight Southern Miss runs.
"I thought it was a tight strike zone, but it was fair for both sides," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "They're a well-disciplined offensive team, we fell behind on a lot of hitters, and they were able to put together three big innings.
"That hasn't been characteristic of our pitching staff, but it's hard to fault them; they've been great all year. There are some days you're just going to get beat, and this was one of those days."
A bases-clearing double by Jared Bales ignited the seven-run fourth that saw Southern Miss send 11 batters to the plate and tally six of their 13 hits, putting together the biggest inning of any UAB opponent this season.
Adam Doleac had a three-run double an inning earlier for the Golden Eagles and finished the game a home run shy of the cycle. Isaac Rodriguez joined Doleac with three hits and three RBI.
Southern Miss went on to add three more runs in the fifth inning, while UAB pushed one more across in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Ivan De Jesus against Southern Miss reliever Seth Hester.
Eight UAB players recorded a hit in the game, but Coy Arrowood was the only Blazer with multiple hits. UAB's Matt Morse picked up his first collegiate hit in the ninth inning after entering as a defensive replacement.
For Palmeiro, the home run was his team-leading sixth of the season as he improved his RBI total to 33, also the highest on the team.
Jacob German made his third appearance on the mound for UAB and threw 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, and Trey Waltman also tossed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen.
