Wrong Reasons to Want to Be Home: GO BLAZERS!
HOOVER, Ala. -- Behind a career-high three hits from freshman catcher Harry Clark, the UAB baseball team downed No. 23 Alabama, 6-4, at Regions Park on Wednesday night.Clark also finished with a pair of RBI as the Blazers won for the seventh time in the past eight games to improve to 15-8 on the season. Alabama, on the other hand, fell for the sixth time in the past seven games to drop to 17-7.
"I thought it was a heck of a college baseball game," UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. "I would think everyone who came tonight would leave as a fan of college baseball. It was a good win for us. We played a very clean game, and when you do that, you have a chance to win games."
UAB played its seventh error-free game of the season, while Alabama committed just one error in the contest.
UAB opened the scoring with a pair of second-inning solo home runs from Luke Stewart and Ryan Ussery, and the Blazers never trailed in the game. Stewart's home run was his ninth of the season and his seventh in the past six games, while Ussery's was the first of his rookie campaign.
Blazer starting pitcher Benji Waite worked four strong innings, allowing just one run on three hits before handing the ball over to the Blazer bullpen, which divided the remaining five innings between five pitchers.
Alabama starter Tucker Hawley took the loss, surrendering three runs on five hits in six innings. Four Crimson Tide relievers saw work as the teams combined to use 11 pitchers in the game.
RBI singles from Clark in the fourth inning and John Frost in the fifth gave UAB a 4-1 lead. But Alabama picked up a run in the seventh on an RBI single from Brandt Hendricks and added another in the eighth on a run-scoring single from Cal Tinsley to cut the lead to 4-3.
Alabama was threatening for more in the eighth when UAB closer Nick Graffeo came out of the bullpen with two outs and runners at second and third. A walk loaded the bases, but Graffeo struck out Hendricks to preserve the lead.
After a pair of insurance runs for UAB in the bottom of the eighth, including Clark's second RBI single of the game, Graffeo closed out the win in the ninth.
Alabama managed a run in the ninth and brought the go-ahead run to the plate with one out, but Graffeo induced a ground ball out and then struck out Clay Jones to end the game and pick up his third save.
Josh Rutledge went 4-for-5 with two runs scored to lead Alabama as he accounted for nearly half of the Crimson Tide's nine hits.
UAB has now defeated Alabama at Regions Park twice in the past three seasons, having also won the 2008 game in Hoover. Wednesday's victory was the first for the Blazers over a ranked opponent since taking two of three games from then-No. 4 Rice to end the 2009 regular season.
The Blazers return to Conference USA play this weekend with a trip to Orlando, Fla., for a three-game series with UCF starting Friday.
