Alabama Holds Off UAB, 4-3
4/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BOX SCORE
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The No. 10 ranked University of Alabama baseball team scored three times in the first inning and then held off the UAB Blazers for a 4-3 win Wednesday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
The Crimson Tide (23-9) plated three runs on six hits in the bottom of the first inning and then survived the final eight innings of a non-conference game that fell in the middle of two Southeastern Conference series against the No. 1 ranked team. Alabama beat No.1 Miss. State two out of three last weekend and then travels to Columbia to face No. 1 South Carolina this weekend.
"It was a win," Alabama head coach Jim Wells said. "I would have liked for us to have played a little sharper. We had some base-running issues, three that come to mind. It was another middle of the week survival."
UAB (13-17) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when centerfielder Steven Turner tripled off the wall in left-center and scored one pitch later on George Gutierrez sacrifice fly to right field to put the Blazers on the board.
Alabama quickly answered with three runs on six hits in the bottom of the inning of losing pitcher Lyle Northington (1-3), who allowed three runs and six hits in one inning on the mound.
Junior Emeel Salem opened the inning with a single to right and junior Brandon Belcher and senior followed with singles to load the bases with no outs. After senior first baseman Spencer Pennington struck out, senior catcher David Ferazza reached on an infield single that was deflected by Northington to allow Salem to score the tying run.
Senior Matt Downs and freshman Ryan Rhoden followed with RBI singles to make it a 3-1 game. Downs was thrown out when over-ran second base on Rhoden's single to right and freshman Kent Matthes grounded out to end the inning.
UAB made a pitching change after the first inning and right-hander Mitch Thorn was exactly that to the Crimson Tide batting order. Alabama managed only one hit over the next five innings as Thorn worked a career-high five innings with five strikeouts.
Meanwhile, UAB cut the lead to 4-2 with a run in the third inning when Turner drew a lead off walked and moved around the bases on a stolen base and two Jake McCarter wild pitches to make it a 3-2 game.
Alabama finally solved Thorn with back-to-back doubles in the seventh inning by Rhoden and pinch-hitter Matt Bentley to give the Tide a 4-2 lead. The Blazers and right-hander Drew Murray wriggled off the hook when Pennington grounded out to end the inning after the Tide had loaded the bases.
Rhoden (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) had two hits and one RBI for Alabama, including a seventh inning double that produced an insurance run.
Junior right-hander Jake McCarter (4-0) held UAB to two runs on four hits through six innings for his fourth win of the season. Sophomore Josh Copeland, who pitched for the first time since March 10, allowed one run and one hit in 1 1/3 innings.
The Blazers capitalized with a run in the top of the eighth inning off Copeland to trim the lead to 4-3. Turner drew a lead off walk, moved to third on Gutierrez' base hit to left and scored on Danny Sawyer's ground out.
Turner (1-for-2) scored all three runs for the Blazers in the loss to Alabama.
Jordan Davis replaced Copeland on the mound and stranded the tying run at third when Ryne Lovdahl grounded out to end the inning. Davis also pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save of the year.
Alabama hits the road this weekend with a three-game series at No.1 ranked South Carolina in Columbia. The series begins with a 7 p.m. (ET) game Friday, April 7 at Sarge Frye Field.
GAME NOTES:
*Alabama is 6-2 in one-run games this season.
*Alabama went 6-2 on the eight-game home stand.
*The Crimson Tide has won seven of the last eight meetings with the Blazers. Alabama has five-game home winning streak over UAB, dating back to the 2002 season.
*Salem extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a leadoff single in the first inning.
*Alabama scored three runs on six hits in the bottom of the first inning. The six hits are the most by the Crimson Tide since recording six hits in the second inning against Fla. International on Feb. 26.
*Josh Copeland made his return to the mound for the Crimson Tide on Wednesday night. It was his first appearance since March 10 at Nebraska.
*UAB has lost 12 of its last 13 games and owns a 10-game losing streak heading into its C-USA series with Rice this weekend.
