The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Baseball Begins 11-Day Road Trip at ODU Friday
4/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
NORFOLK, Va. – The UAB baseball team continues its Conference USA schedule in Virginia beginning Friday with a three-game series against Old Dominion. The set begins an 11-day road trip that includes the Monarchs, Ohio State and Marshall.
The league foes face off at 5 p.m. Friday night with the game being telecast on the American Sports Network (click here for local broadcast information), followed by a 2 p.m. Saturday first pitch and Sunday noon start at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
The Blazers (17-22, 9-9 C-USA) go into the series with an even 9-9 Conference USA record after taking three wins over Middle Tennessee last weekend at Young Memorial Field. The Green and Gold are currently tied for sixth in the league standings with Western Kentucky.
After an impressive three-game performance against MTSU, and coming up just a home run short of the cycle on Sunday, Brewer Hicklen leads UAB at the plate with a .307 batting average. The redshirt freshman, in his first season of play, is 16-for-21 in the stolen bases department and has a team-high 43 hits.
Right-hander Tanner Graham has been tabbed Friday’s starting pitcher, while lefty Ryan Ruggles is handed the ball Saturday. Both pitchers earned wins last weekend as Graham (2-4) picked up his first C-USA win last Friday and Ruggles (5-2) held the Blue Raiders to one run on four hits. Sunday’s starter is to be announced.
Old Dominion (25-16, 8-11 C-USA) sits in the eighth-place slot in the C-USA standings. The Monarchs lost two of three games at Louisiana Tech last weekend before falling 8-4 to No. 20 Virginia on Tuesday.
Conner Myers leads the ODU lineup with a .333 average, totaling a team-leading 54 hits and 27 RBIs. The center fielder is one of two Conference USA players to lead his team in batting average (.333), hits (54) and RBI (27).
Right-hander Sam Sinnen (3-1) is scheduled to start Friday and righty Victor Diaz (5-3) gets the start Saturday. Sinnen makes his way back into the starting rotation after a brief stint in the bullpen, and Diaz is set to make his 10th start of the year.
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 social media accounts of UAB Athletics on Twitter (@UABAthletics), on Facebook (Facebook.com/UAB.Blazers), on Instagram (@uabathletics) or on Snapchat (@uabathletics).
