Walk-Off Win Clinches Spot In Conference USA Tournament

Friday, May 18

Young Memorial Field

6:30 P.M.

UAB

21-30, 13-16

Middle Tennessee

26-27-1, 11-17-1

Middle Tennessee

UAB

Walk-Off Win Clinches Spot In Conference USA Tournament

5/18/2018 11:36:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UAB baseball team punched its ticket to Biloxi, Miss., next week for the Conference USA Tournament as a walk off single in the ninth inning lifted the Blazers to a 6-5 win over Middle Tennessee on Friday night at Young Memorial Field.

The Blazers will make their first appearance in the conference tournament since 2015 when they made a run to the title game as the sixth seed.

"I would have said the same thing win or lose, what a great college baseball game," head coach Brian Shoop said. "There is so much parity in the league, there have been so many hard fought games this year. WKU and Florida Atlantic today went 11 innings and tonight you had two teams fighting their guts out trying to get into the tournament. It is a hard thing to do when you haven't done it in a while and I can't tell you how much joy it gives me to see our kids celebrate. That was really special to get to see our kids celebrate."

Fast forwarding to the bottom of the ninth inning, the Blazers recorded two quick outs before Cole Collins was hit on the leg by a pitch and Colton Schultz followed with a walk to put runners on for Carter Pharis. Pharis then provided the game-winning hit with a single into right field to score Collins and punch UAB's ticket to the conference tournament.

"Carter is one of the best guys in the league and anybody in the conference would want him on their team," Shoop said. "You win as a team, you don't win as an individual, but he is kind of the guy you want up. He is a mature player that is not affected by not having a hit earlier in the game. He can just hit and I liked our chances with him up there in the bottom of the ninth. Great night."

Middle Tennessee (26-27-1, 11-17-1) took the lead in the top of the third inning as it scored two runs on three hits to lead 2-0.

UAB (21-30, 13-16) answered with one run in the bottom of the third inning as Schultz hit the second infield single of the frame to score Tyler Tolbert, who recorded the other single, and make the contest 2-1.

The Blue Raiders put up three runs in the top of the fourth inning on four hits to extend their lead to 5-1.

Collins led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a double off the wall in right center field for his only hit of the night. Schultz drove in his second run of the game with a single through the right side to plate Collins and cut the Blue Raiders' lead to three.

Thomas Johns kept the sixth inning going with a double down the right field line that moved Schultz to third before Stephen Dobbs drove in Schultz and Johns with a single up the middle to cut the game to 5-4.

Pharis entered his fourth at-bat of the game hitless in the bottom of the eighth inning. That stat would quickly chance as he hit a solo, game-tying, home run off the scoreboard in left field to knot the game at five.

Pharis' second hit came in the ninth that propelled the Blazers to their monumental victory.

"To start off the day those were pretty brutal at-bats but I talked to Coach (Perry) Roth and my teammates really picked me up, reminding me to slow the game down and see the ball better," Pharis said. "(Stephen) Dobbs' RBI were great and I was lucky to get into the situation I had with Colton walking and Cole taking the pitch of his leg, those were huge at bats that without I wouldn't be in the spot to get the hit. I owe it all to my teammates."

Ryan Wesson earned the win for the Blazers as he went 5.2 innings in relief and allowed no runs on just two hits with three strikeouts.

Austin Dennis took the loss for Middle Tennessee as he gave up two runs on four hits but managed to strikeout five UAB hitters.

"What an unbelievable job by (Ryan) Wesson to hold Middle Tennessee scoreless for five innings to give our kids a chance," Shoop said. "We kept fighting against Austin Dennis, and here is Middle Tennessee's guy and who it wants on the mound. He is really good, Dennis is really good, and to piece those runs together makes me so happy for our kids and our coaches and everybody who cares about UAB baseball. It is not easy to get into this tournament and I am really happy for them."

Dobbs finished the night with two hits for the second consecutive game and he turned in his 13th career multi-hit contest. The catcher also had a pair of RBI.

Schultz went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored for his eighth career multi-RBI game and fourth of the season.

For Pharis it was his 53rd career multi-hit game and 24th multi-RBI contest. The junior has 18 games with two or more hits this season alone.

Tolbert swiped his 24th base of the season moving himself into a three-way tie for eighth on the UAB single season stolen base list.

UAB and Middle Tennessee wrap up the regular season tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Young Memorial Field. The Blazers will honor their seven seniors with a pre-game ceremony beginning at 12:45 p.m.

For more information on the UAB baseball team follow the Blazers on Twitter (@UAB_Baseball) or on Instagram (UAB_Baseball).