The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB, Samford Clash In 80th Meeting Tuesday
3/2/2015 12:00:00β―AM | Baseball
UAB (8-2, 0-0 C-USA) at Samford (3-8, 0-0 SoCon)
Details: 6 p.m. • Joe Lee Griffin Field •Birmingham, Ala.
Game Coverage: Twitter • Live Stats • Game Notes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB baseball team travels just down the road to crosstown-foe Samford Tuesday for a 6 p.m. contest in the 80th meeting between the two schools.
First pitch from Joe Lee Griffin Field is set for 6 p.m. Live stats will be available in the link above or at SamfordSports.com.
Series History
UAB and Samford will meet for the 80th time on Tuesday at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The two teams first met in 1983 as UAB leads the all-time series, 54-25.
The two squads split the two meetings last year, as Samford handed UAB its first loss of the 2014 season in a 13-5 defeat, before UAB got one back from the Bulldogs, 4-3, in a 13-inning walk-off to snap Samford's nine-game winning streak between the two Birmingham schools.
Scouting The Opponent
After winning three of their first five games to start the 2015 campaign, the Bulldogs have dropped six-straight. Samford was picked to finish second in the Southern Conference by its league's head coaches, and they received three first-place votes as favorites to win the league.
Samford opened with six-straight at home, taking one game from Radford and two out of three from Austin Peay, before dropping a midweek to Troy, and falling to Arizona twice (7-1, 12-5) and No. 13 Mississippi State twice (8-2, 6-2).
Heath Quinn and Hunter Swilling head into the Tuesday matchup as the team's leaders in hits with 14 each, while Damon Waller has a team-best 10 RBI. As a team the Bulldogs have hit 12 home runs and carry a cumulative .268 batting average into Tuesday.
Jared Brasher will get the start on the hill for the Bulldogs Tuesday. He has three starts this season with a 14.29 ERA in 5.2 IP. As a staff, Samford has a 6.92 ERA with 73 earned runs allowed in 11 games played.
Quality Starts Key To UAB's Success
All-American Chase Mallard was the only player in the country to record a quality start in each of his 14 starts last season. Senior Alex Luna is off to a 3-for-3 start in quality starts in 2015, while James Naile and Johnny Lieske each have two for the Blazers. UAB is 6-1 when its starting pitchers record a quality start.
For more information on the UAB baseball team, follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_Baseball). For more on all Blazer sports teams follow the official Twitter account of UAB Athletics (@UABAthletics).
