Big Baseball Weekend At Tulane Starts Thursday

May 15, 2013

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The UAB baseball will close out the regular season with a three-game series against the Tulane Green Wave, starting Thursday at Turchin Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.

The Blazers, currently sitting in the ninth place in the league standings, are fighting for a Conference USA Tournament playoff berth. UAB trails Marshall, which plays at Rice, by one game for the eighth and final playoff slot. If both teams finish with the same conference record, UAB would advance to the tournament due to taking two-of-three in Charleston, W.Va., earlier this season.

UAB (20-33, 5-16 C-USA) at Tulane (27-25, 10-11 C-USA)

Series Information
Location: New Orleans, La.
Stadium: Greer Field at Turchin Stadium (5,000)

G1: Thurs., 6:30 p.m. CT
UAB: RHP Cameron Rose (0-1, 2.97)
TLN: RHP Alex Byo (4-4, 2.69)

G2: Fri., 6:30 p.m. CT
UAB: TBA
TLN: LHP David Napoli (4-2, 2.54)

G3: Sat., 1 p.m. CT
UAB: TBA
TLN: RHP Randy LeBlanc (4-4, 4.72)

Multimedia
Video: All-Access (UABsports.com)
Audio: All-Access (UABsports.com)
GameTracker: UABsports.com
Twitter Updates: @UABathletics; @UABbaseball

SERIES NOTES

Loves Facing Tulane
OF Jeff Schalk: .412 (7-for-17)
RHP Chase Mallard: 1-0, 1.69 ERA, 10.2 IP, 7H, 2ER, 5BB, 6K - 3 APP

Inside The Series

All-Time Series: Tulane leads 40-16

Last Meeting: UAB 6, Tulane 3 at Pearl, Miss. (5/25/12)
Chase Mallard pitched flawlessly in an emergency relief appearance, allowing only two earned runs in a then career-best 6.2 innings to earn the victory. The Blazers took advance of three Tulane miscues which led to four unearned runs.

The victory secured a spot for the Blazers in the C-USA Championship game, in which UAB defeated Memphis, 5-0.

Last Series (4/13-15/12)
G1: Tulane 13, UAB 6
G2: UAB 4, Tulane 3
G3: Tulane 9, UAB 3

Last Series in New Orleans (4/29-5/1/11)
G1: Tulane 6, UAB 3
G2: Tulane 2, UAB 1
G3: UAB 7, Tulane 1

Last Time Won A Series vs. Tulane: 2010
Last Time Won A Series In New Orleans: 2007

UAB Scouting Report
The Blazers earned a 6-4 victory against Troy on Tuesday to improve to 20-33 on the season entering the final conference series of the 2013 season.

3B John Frost has been a mainstay in the UAB lineup, leading the Blazers with a .338 batting average after going 2-for-4 with three RBI in the win over the Trojans. Frost has collected a team-best 18 doubles and 35 RBI.

DH Ryan Prinzing has also been a bright spot in the batter’s box for the Green and Gold, hitting .324 overall, with a team best 35 runs scored and three homers.  Prinzing has also knocked in 28 runs and collected 14 total extra-base hits on the season.

The Blazers have only announced one starter for the series, with right-hander Cameron Rose getting the nod for Thursday’s tilt.  Rose is coming off one of his most impressive outings of the season, allowing only one run (unearned) on just one hit and tied a career-long outing of 4.2 innings.  Rose is 0-1 on the season with a 2.97 ERA, having made 15 appearances, including two starts, totaling 33.1 innings.

Tulane Scouting Report
Tulane enters the final C-USA series with an overall record of 27-25 and 10-11 in league play.

For the season, the Green Wave has utilized pitching and defense to help win games. As a staff, Tulane boasts a team ERA of 3.39 and has 312 strikeouts compared to 180 walks in 470.1 total innings.

Friday’s starter, David Napoli, has been one of the most impressive pitchers on the Tulane staff. The lefty is holding the opposition to a .168 batting average, having only allowed 34 hits in 60.1 innings on the bump.

Defensively, Tulane owns a team fielding percentage of .975, committing just 52 errors in 52 total games.

On offense, Brennan Middleton is the lone batter with a batting average above .300, hitting .303 on the season. As a team, the Green Wave is hitting .249. Reigning C-USA Hitter of the Week, Andrew Garner, owns a batting average of .297, and has clubbed 18 extra-base hits and knocked in 29.

Who’s Hot
3B John Frost: .400 (8-for-20) 3 RBI, 4 RBI – Last 5G
2B Tyler Hamby: .375 (6-for-16) 4 RBI – Last 5G
OF Jeff Schalk: .361 (13-for-36) 5 R, 2 2B, 4 RBI – Last 10G
DH Ryan Prinzing: .308 (12-for-39) 7 R, 11 RBI – Last 10G

Big Business In Big Easy
The series with Tulane and how Marshall fairs at Rice will determine if the Blazers will be able to defend the C-USA Tournament Championship crown that was claimed in 2012.

Marshall currently owns a one game lead in the standings with three games left in the regular season. The Blazers do own the important tiebreaker with the Thundering Herd, which would send UAB to the tournament if both teams finished with identical conference records.

Frost Reaches 250 Career Hits
In his final at bat at Young Memorial Field, senior John Frost rocketed a double off the wall in left-center field for his 250^th career hit as a Blazer on Tuesday against Troy. Frost became just the fourth Blazer in program history to reach 250 hits for a career. In the 6-4 victory over Troy, Frost finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI.

Blazers Tops Troy
For the sixth straight time, the UAB baseball team defeated the Troy Trojans, thanks to a 6-4 win on Tuesday. The Blazers trailed the visiting Trojans 4-0, but the Green and Gold bounced back scoring four times in the sixth and adding two more in the seventh to earn the come from behind victory.

Bullpen Fires BBs By Trojans
A quartet of UAB relievers – RHP Adam Lau, LHP Turner Lee, RHP James Naile and RHP Cory Eller – combined to pitch the 5.1 no-hit innings of relief in Tuesday’s victory. Naile fired a scoreless seventh to earn the victory, while Eller retired all six batters he faced to earn his first collegiate save. The four arms combined to strikeout six and only issue one walk.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics

Big Baseball Weekend At Tulane Starts Thursday

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