The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB to Play Alabama A&M in Midweek Tilts
3/6/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB baseball team will look to shake off a tough luck weekend with a pair of midweek games against Alabama A&M. The Blazers, who lost to final two games to Georgia over the weekend by a total of three runs, enter with a 6-5 record while the Bulldogs stand at 4-9 this season.
The first game is scheduled to be played in Huntsville, Ala., tomorrow at 2 PM followed by a 4 PM game at Regions Field on Wednesday, March 8. The pitchers for either side have yet to be announced.
“We would like to see improvement offensively,” said UAB head coach Brian Shoop. “We would like to continue to get our guys who haven’t thrown a lot experience in innings so we can continue to build our pitching depth.”
HOW TO FOLLOW
GAME NOTES • UAB
LIVE STATS • Game 1 | Game 2
LIVE STREAM • Game 2
TWITTER • @UAB_Baseball
INSTAGRAM • @UAB_Baseball
SNAPCHAT • UABathletics
QUICK RECAP – GEORGIA TAKES LOW-SCORING SERIES
The UAB baseball team battled resiliently over the weekend against its SEC opponent Georgia. The Bulldogs won the final two games of the series after losing the Friday night opener. Georgia outscored the Blazers by only two runs over the weekend.
Garrett Whitlock dominated on Friday night, retiring the first 17 batters he faced in order and receiving a no-decision despite holding a one-hitter going into the ninth inning. UAB won in the 10th inning following what appeared to be a home run by Riley McCown but was ruled a ground-rule double. Stephen Dobbs drove McCown in the next at-bat with a single down the right field line to win 2-1.
That was followed by great tag team performances by Ryan Ruggles and Austin Thomas on Saturday and Thomas Lowery and Carson Jones on Sunday. The latter pair allowed only two hits over eight innings as UAB lost 1-0.
STAFF BRILLIANCE
UAB entire pitching staff has been great to date. Coming off a weekend in which they conceded just four runs over three games to Georgia, the Blazers rank 14th in the country in ERA (2.41) and 25th in WHIP (1.13). Both marks lead Conference USA.
Garrett Whitlock and Carson Jones feature the best numbers of the group. Whitlock ranks 53rd in ERA (0.71) in the nation and 18th in WHIP (0.59). Jones is 60th in ERA (0.79) and 42nd in WHIP (0.71). The two right-handers rank 1-2 in CUSA. The JUCO transfer has earned two wins and one save in four relief appearances while allowing five hits, three walks, and one run over 11.1 innings. He has retired nine on strikes and is limited opposing batters to a .139 average.
SCOUTING ALABAMA A&M
The Bulldogs are coming off a weekend series loss to Alabama State in which they gave up 21 runs. A&M’s team ERA currently stands at 8.54, the 15th-lowest mark in the nation.
SERIES HISTORY
The Blazers have held a large advantage in the series to date winning 10 out of 11 contests. The last series was in 2013 when UAB outscored Alabama A&M 19-9 in mid February of 2013.
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 (@UAB_Athletics), on Facebook (Facebook.com/UAB.Blazers), on Instagram (@uab_athletics) or on Snapchat (@uabathletics).
