The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
FIU
Blazers Lose Road Finale against FIU 6-2
4/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Final Stats (PDF)
MIAMI, Fla. – The rubber match of the UAB baseball team’s road series versus FIU did not go in favor of the Blazers as they lost 6-2 on Sunday afternoon. The loss puts the Green & Gold at 15-13 this season and 4-5 in Conference USA. The Panthers are now 16-11 and 5-4 in conference.
The Blazers collected 10 hits in the game to mark double-digit hits in each game of the series for UAB but left 11 stranded on the afternoon.
“I thought it was a lot more positive than negative,” said head coach Brian Shoop. “I hate excuses, but when you have literally half your pitchers and Garrett Whitlock goes down in the top of the second, that took us to eight guys down. That’s difficult. Adam Lamar just had to stay out there no matter what and did great. We had 10 more hits than they had over the weekend. It was a great step in the right direction offensively.”
FIU began the scoring in the first inning when Zach Files reached on a walk. He advanced a base on a groundout and was able to reach home after two wild pitches to make it 1-0.
Brewer Hicklen pushed his hitting streak to 17 straight games with an RBI double with two outs in the top half of the next frame. It was a short-lived tie as the Panthers retook the lead when a pickoff attempt at first base sailed down the right field line and allowed a runner to score from third in the bottom of the second inning.
The Blazers nearly tied the game back up in the top of the third inning. Antonio Ralat’s double on a 2-2 count was followed by a single up the middle by Riley McCown. Ralat rounded third and went for home on the play but was tagged out on the throw at the plate.
The Panthers than used four hits to produce three runs to extend its lead to 5-1 at the end of the fourth inning. Their starter, Nick MacDonald, didn’t allow a baserunner across the next two innings and was lifted after six innings of work.
FIU added an insurance run via a solo home run from Nick Day in the sixth inning to push the lead to 6-1. UAB tallied a run in the top of the eighth when Price Visintainer drew a bases loaded, two out walk to cut it to 6-2 as Stephen Dobbs scored. The Blazers could not take further advantage of the situation and fell by the four run disadvantage.
Whitlock started for UAB and was credited with the loss. He was pulled from the game after one-plus inning due to injury. He had three strikeouts while allowing one hit, two runs, one earned, and one walk. The sophomore is 3-3 this season.
Lamar pitched a career-high six innings as the first pitcher in relief for Whitlock. He was charged with six hits, four runs, three earned, one walk, and five strikeouts. Isaiah Gonzales-Montoya added an inning of work where he threw eight pitches, all strikes, and didn’t allow a baserunner.
MacDonald earned the victory and is 4-0 now this season. Across his six innings he conceded five hits and one unearned run to go along with one walk and four K’s.
Carter Pharis, Ralat, and Visintainer each collected a pair of hits. Pharis now has two-or-more hits in 12 of his last 16 games, Ralat is on a career-best five-game hitting streak, and Visintainer had two hits all three games of the series.
“I thought we competed great,” said Shoop. “We’re in the thick of it. We’ll be right in the middle of it and hopefully we get some of these arms back. If we do, I think we’ll make a run as I told the kids.”
The Blazers will be on the road one more time this week at Jacksonville State before hosting the Gamecocks across Tuesday and Wednesday this week. They welcome Marshall for the weekend at Young Memorial Field.
