The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Alabama
UAB Baseball Falls to Alabama 4-1
3/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Final Stats (PDF)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB baseball team fell to fellow in-state foe Alabama 4-1 on Tuesday night at Regions Field. The Blazers are now 13-8 on the season while the Crimson Tide improve to 11-10.
UAB plated its lone run in the bottom of the ninth when Riley McCown hit a pop fly to left scoring Carter Pharis from second base.
UAB threatened in the bottom of the fourth when Pharis singled to lead off the inning. Pharis would steal second followed by a walk to Thomas Johns giving the Blazers two runners on base for the first and only time in the game. With runners on first and second base, catcher Stephen Dobbs hit into a triple play stopping the Blazers’ momentum. It was the first triple play turned by a UAB opponent since Cleveland State did so on March 6, 2011.
“I thought Alabama out-pitched us, out-hit us, and out-played us,” said head coach Brian Shoop. They deserved to win.”
The Crimson Tide took an early 1-0 lead in the second on a Gene Wood single that scored Tanner DeVinny from second. They would tack on one run in the fourth inning, the seventh inning and again in the ninth to secure the victory.
Dylan Munger made his first start of the season allowing one earned run on four hits across two innings. Isaiah Gonzalez-Montoya, Austin Thomas and Carson Jones all came in in relief to combine for three runs on five hits over seven innings.
Garret Rukes earned his second win of the year after pitching 3.1 innings in relief for starter Deacon Medders. Those two threw 7.1 combined innings and allowed just five hits and two walks. Davis Vainer would finish the final 1.2 innings of the game to notch his third save of the year.
The top of the UAB order maintained its recent hot stretch. Tyler Tolbert and Brewer Hicklen extended their hitting streaks to six and 10 games, respectively. Pharis finished 2-for-4 at the plate marking his eighth multi-hit game across the last nine.
UAB returns to Regions Field for the second weekend of Conference USA play when it hosts Florida Atlantic in a three-game series beginning Friday, March 24 with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. The weekend wraps up with two matinee games the first on Saturday at 2 p.m. while Sunday’s game is slated for 12 p.m.
