The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB
Old Dominion
UAB Unable to Hold Early Lead versus Old Dominion
5/7/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Final Stats (PDF)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB baseball team lost Sunday’s finale versus Old Dominion 8-3. The Blazers led 2-0 after four innings and received a quality start from Austin Thomas but the Monarchs scored eight unanswered runs from the sixth to eighth innings to improve to 32-14 and 16-8 in Conference USA. UAB is now 22-26 overall while 8-16 in conference.
“That’s a game we lost 8-3 and could have easily won 8-3,” said UAB head coach Brian Shoop. “We left 13 runners on, had lots of chances early to put good separation between us and them. Their runs were given to them with freebies. Wild pitch the first one, dropped a pop up the second run in, we walked, balked, hit a guy, then the hits started to come. We’ve had bullpen struggles and then the game got away from our bullpen. We lots of opportunities offensively.”
UAB’s first run would come in the bottom of the third inning. Riley McCown’s single and Brewer Hicklen’s walk presented the opportunity for Pierce Ressmeyer with one out. The Blazers catcher hit a laser down the left field line and off the glove of the ODU third baseman as Ressmeyer would secure a double while McCown scored. The bases were loaded up with only one out but UAB was able to build the lead anymore at that point and led 1-0 heading into the fourth.
The Blazers picked up another run the next frame. With Thomas Johns at third and McCown on first, Colton Schultz gutted out a fielder’s choice to avoid a double play and score Johns to push the lead to 2-0.
ODU tied things up in the top of the sixth inning. Thomas stepped aside with two outs and runners on the corners. The first runner would score on a wild pitch and the other came across when a high pop fly was dropped on the infield grass and left the contest at 2-2.
The Monarchs would take a lead the next frame. Isaiah Gonzales-Montoya stepped off the rubber to throw over to first base with a runner on, but with bunt being shown by the batter Turner Bishop, Johns was charging in on the bag and Gonzales-Montoya was forced to hold onto the ball with nobody at the bag leading to a balk. The runner advanced to second and was driven home on the next pitch with an RBI single up the middle by Bishop. Old Dominion would go on to load the bases and score three more runs to lead 6-2.
ODU scored two more runs with two outs on the board in the top of the eighth via a pair of doubles to extend it to 8-2.
UAB refused to go away in the final two innings, putting runners in scoring position multiple times over the last two frames but were only able to score one run as they fell 8-3.
“We got two on in the ninth again so one thing you cannot say about our team is that they don’t quit,” said Shoop. “They keep grinding and pushing. That’s what comes to my mind.”
The Monarchs outhit the Blazers 12-10 while the Green & Gold committed the only error. UAB left 13 runners on-base while the Monarchs stranded nine.
Thomas started for the third time this season and earned a no-decision. The senior right-hander threw a career-high 5.2 innings while allowing five hits, two runs, one earned, walking one, and tallying three strikeouts.
Gonzales-Montoya was tagged with the loss as falls to 1-2 this year. The junior faced five batters and registered one out while allowing one hit, three runs, and one walk.
Craig Lopez earned the win in relief for ODU. His record is 5-2 as he tossed 3.1 shutout innings and had four strikeouts while giving up two hits.
Ralat tied a career-high with three hits as he was 3-for-5 with a pair of stolen bases.
McCown went 2-for-3 at the plate with one run and one walk.
Hicklen finished the game with a pair of walks as he extended his on-base streak to 34 straight games. The sophomore stole one base as well to join the top 10 in school history with his 38th career steal. Hicklen scored the final run of the game of the Blazers and now leads Conference USA with 16 stolen bases.
UAB will play its last midweek contest of the season on Tuesday when it hosts No. 5/8 Auburn at Regions Field. That game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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).
