UAB Falls On Senior Day

Saturday, May 19

Young Memorial Field

1:00 P.M.

UAB

21-31, 13-17

Middle Tennessee

27-27-1, 12-17-1

Middle Tennessee

UAB

5/19/2018 5:47:00 PM | Baseball

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Blazers were unable to stop the big innings again as the UAB baseball team fell 11-5 to Middle Tennessee in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at Young Memorial Field.

With the loss, UAB will enter the Conference USA Tournament as the No. 8 seed and will play the No. 1 seeded Southern Miss in the opening round of the C-USA Championship on Wednesday at 4 p.m. at MGM Park in Biloxi, Miss.

"When we have struggled it has been the big inning that has gotten us and it happened again today," head coach Brian Shoop said. "It got us twice today. As what always happen in the big inning you help the other team a lot. We had multiple walks, errors, wild pitches and cross ups in those innings. We walked the bottom half of their lineup to get to Middle Tennessee's really good hitters. Middle Tennessee has a really, really good top half of the lineup, I think it is one of the better ones in our league, it is tough to get through and if you walk the bottom guys it makes it really tough to keep the runs down. 10 runs in two innings is too much to overcome."

Middle Tennessee (27-27-1, 12-17-1) got on the scoreboard early as a two-out RBI single in the first inning made the game 1-0.

UAB (21-31, 13-17) tied in the game in the third inning as Antonio Ralat led off the inning with a single up the middle before a sacrifice fly from Colton Schultz scored Ralat to tie the game at one.

The Blue Raiders opened the game up the top of the fourth inning as they scored six runs on four hits with a UAB error to stretch the game to 7-1.

Price Visintainer led off the fifth inning with a single up the middle. He reached second on a groundout then advanced to third on a fly out before he swiped home for his sixth stolen base of the season to make the game 7-2.

In the sixth inning, Carter Pharis led off the frame with a single to centerfield before a passed ball and a Middle Tennessee error moved him to third with no outs. Stephen Dobbs grounded out deep enough to score Pharis and cut the lead to 7-3.

Thomas Johns continued the inning with a walk. Two batters later Visintainer knocked his second hit of the game into right field to plate Johns and make the game 7-4.

Middle Tennessee scored four more runs, all with two outs, in the top of the seventh inning off of three hits with another UAB error to lead 11-4.

The Blazers pushed their fifth run across the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning as Blake Johnson hit a pinch hit single up the middle before Pharis' sacrifice fly to left field scored Johnson for the game's final run.

Tyler Gates (4-4) took the loss for the Blazers as he gave up five runs, just one earned, on five hits with two walks and a pair of strikeouts.

Peyton Wigginton went just long enough to earn his second win of the season for the Blue Raiders. The left hander lasted 5.0 innings and allowed two runs on four hits with three strikeouts.

Visintainer was the only Blazer to record multiple hits in the game as he went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI.

UAB honored its seven seniors – Visintainer, Dobbs, Brett Blackwood, Isaiah Gonzales-Montoya, Carson Jones, Kevin Davis and Ryan Ruggles – in its annual Senior Day Ceremony.

"Now we focus on the opportunity ahead of us and the seven outstanding young men that we said goodbye to today," Shoop said. "We have grown to love them and I think they will continue to be great ambassadors for our program and for our university."

Tickets and information about the Conference USA Tournament can be found on the C-USA Tournament web page or by going to ConferenceUSA.com.

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