The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Alabama A&M
Blazers Take Two at Home Versus Bulldogs
3/8/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Final Stats (PDF) – Game 1 | Game 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB baseball team had a lot to celebrate on Wednesday and did so by scoring a plethora of runs across two seven-inning games versus Alabama A&M. The Blazers won by scores of 8-2 and 7-1 as the two victories boosted the teams record to 8-5 while the Bulldogs fell to 4-11.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said UAB head coach Brian Shoop afterwards, who was celebrating his birthday. “It’s nice to get two wins. Anytime you have a loss, you just have that taste in your mouth and you just can’t wait to play again to try and get rid of that. We got to play a lot of people today, which was good. Got a lot of people experience and we look forward to a good practice tomorrow.”
The Blazers got going right away in game one as Brewer Hicklen led off with a triple to right field and scored on a fielding error by the third baseman in the bottom of the first inning. The team would add its other six runs in the ballgame all in the next two frames, highlighted by a four-run second inning.
Isaiah Gonzales-Montoya made his first career start for UAB and was sensational. The junior right-hander coasted through five innings, allowing just a single base runner via a single in the fourth inning. Gonzales-Montoya struck out two and kept his pitch count low at 45 pitches for the night.
Johnathan Perry earned the loss in game one after giving up five runs, none earned, four hits and two walks through the first two frames.
UAB found success one again in the second inning of game two. The Blazers scored twice to take an early 2-0 advantage. Riley McCown’s RBI double to right center scored Luke Eigsti and then Stephen Dobbs was able to score on an RBI groundout to third base by Antonio Ralat.
The Blazers would rely on stellar pitching from lefties Adam Lamar and Dylan Munger before exploding for more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Lamar started and pitched four innings of three-hit ball before Munger came in and tallied three strikeouts in the top of the fifth inning while conceding just one hit.
UAB would score five runs in the bottom half of five after loading the bases to start the frame. Blake Johnson drilled a frozen rope up the middle to score Tyler Tolbert and Ralat. Carter Pharis followed with a two RBI double down the right field line to plate Hicklen and Johnson and Pharis would eventually score on a balk.
Hicklen had a huge night at the plate. The sophomore finished 5-for-7 with four runs, one double, one triple, one RBI, and two stolen bases. Hicklen bumped his average this year to .286 and now leads the team in that category.
Pharis also played well across both games, finishing the night 3-for-4 with three runs, two RBI, one double, one walk and one hit-by-pitch
Shoop was joyful afterwards for the wins but just as elated that Rob Ehsan and the UAB men’s basketball team defeated Charlotte 74-73 in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament earlier in the evening.
“The best thing about today was that our men’s basketball team won and advanced to tomorrow,” said Shoop. “We’ll finish practice in time tomorrow for our kids to be able to get their tomorrow and support our guys.”
The Blazers host Louisiana-Monroe this weekend in a three-game series starting Friday, March 10 at 4 PM. The Saturday and Sunday games are each scheduled for 1 PM.
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).
