The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Charlotte
Charlotte Grand Slam Downs UAB, 5-4
4/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A grand slam in the fifth inning was the difference in game two of the Conference USA series, as Charlotte defeated the UAB baseball team, 5-4, Saturday afternoon at Young Memorial Field.
"It was that kid's (Luke Gibbs) first home run of the year unfortunately," head coach Brian Shoop said of the blast that gave the 49ers the win. "It came with the bases loaded and a 3-run lead for us. We went with (Thomas) Lowery for the left-on-left matchup. Gibbs got a good swing on it and took it out of here."
UAB (23-17, 10-10 C-USA) took a 4-1 lead into the fifth, and after starter Alex Luna got into some trouble with the bases loaded, Gibbs took the first pitch from reliever Lowery over the right field wall, giving the Niners what would be the final lead of the game.
With the win, Charlotte clinches the league series and improves to 15-21, 9-14 C-USA. The two teams were even across the board, both with 10 hits each and two errors each.
The Blazers scored their four runs in the second, third and fourth. Tyler Mims gave the Green and Gold an early 1-0 advantage off an RBI double, one of his two hits on the day.
The two clubs swapped single runs in the third, as the Niners had a run cross the plate on a Blazer error, and UAB responded with an RBI bunt single from Griffin Gum.
Adam Lau collected an RBI in the fourth off a groundout to second, scoring Esteban Tresgallo, before Adam Smith put down the second Blazer RBI bunt of the day.
Tresgallo finished 3-for-4, while Mims went 2-for-3. Five other Blazers had one hit each in the loss.
"We played hard today, just didn't get over the hump," Shoop said. "We competed well, the kids did what we asked, they just happened to hit a grand slam."
The two teams return to Young Memorial Field Sunday for the series finale at 1 p.m.
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).
