UAB Opens C-USA Tournament Against Southern Miss

Thursday, May 24

Biloxi, Miss.

12:30 p.m.

UAB

Southern Miss

UAB Opens C-USA Tournament Against Southern Miss

5/22/2018 2:44:00 PM | Baseball

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The No. 8 seed UAB baseball team begins the 2018 Conference Tournament on Wednesday against No. 1 seed Southern Miss. First pitch between the Blazers and Golden Eagles is slated for 4 p.m. from MGM Park.

Quick Hitters

UAB (21-31, 13-17 C-USA) needed just one win over the weekend against Middle Tennessee to secure a spot in the field and the Blazers got it in dramatic fashion. In game two of the series, Carter Pharis hit a walk-off, two-out single that scored Cole Collins and clinched UAB's first tournament berth since 2015.
In 16 appearances in the C-USA Tournament, the Blazers are 19-29. In 2015, UAB entered the field as the No. 6 seed and made a run to the championship game before ultimately falling to FIU. The Blazers' last, and only, tournament title came in 2012, when they entered as the No. 7 seed and became the lowest seed to ever capture the tournament crown.
Brett Blackwood was named Second-Team All-C-USA after hitting .277 with 44 hits, six doubles and was tied for the team-lead in home runs with six. The redshirt junior is the only Blazer with a multi-home run game this season.
The Second-Team award came a day after Blackwood and Pharis were tabbed the C-USA All-Academic Team. Blackwood graduated in April with a 3.81 GPA in accounting, while Pharis carries a 3.83 GPA in Kinesiology-P-12 teacher certification.
Stephen Dobbs is not one that opponents want to try to run on as the Blazers' senior catcher leads the league in runners caught stealing with 18.
Ryan Ruggles is slated to take the mound against the Golden Eagles. Ruggles carries a 4.98 ERA to go along with a 2-3 record. He has struck out 53 batters and issued only 16 walks over 59.2 innings of work this season.

Scouting Southern Miss

Southern Miss (39-15, 23-6 C-USA) enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed and the No. 11 team in the country. The Golden Eagles finished the regular season with a sweep at Marshall for their fifth sweep in league play.
Luke Reynolds and Matt Wallner lead the Southern Miss lineup, hitting .403 and .352, respectively. Reynolds leads the team in hits (77), doubles (19), home runs (15) and slugging percentage (.749), while Wallner has recorded a team-best 59 RBI to go along with 13 home runs and 12 doubles.
Left-hander Stevie Powers is scheduled to start on Wednesday. Powers carries a 4-1 record and a 3.36 ERA to go along with 66 strikeouts over 64.1 innings pitched. He was the starting pitcher against the Blazers in the series finale on May 6, but went just 2.0 innings and allowed one run on three hits.

Series History
Overall Record: Southern Miss leads 53-37
In Birmingham: Southern Miss leads 25-24
In Hattiesburg: Southern Miss leads 24-12
In the C-USA Tournament: Southern Miss leads 4-1

Tickets are available for the C-USA Tournament online or at the MGM Park Ticket Office. Fans can catch all of the first three rounds of the tournament on ESPN3.com with the Championship Game set for Sunday at 1 p.m. on the CBS Sports Network. David Crane will be on the call for all of UAB's games on WAPI-AM 1070 and will go on air 15 minutes before first pitch.

To stay up to date with the latest tournament news, visit the C-USA Tournament web page.

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