Baseball to Play Midweek Games Against UAB and Jacksonville State
3/21/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 21, 2011
Game Notes for UAB and Jacksonville State
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -
Tuesday, March 22 Alabama (13-7, 2-1 SEC) vs. UAB (11-8, 0-0 CUSA) Sewell Thomas Stadium (6,571) • Tuscaloosa, Ala. Game 22 Wednesday, March 23 Alabama (13-7, 2-1 SEC) vs. Jacksonville State (14-5, 0-0 OVC) Sewell Thomas Stadium (6,571) • Tuscaloosa, Ala. Probable Starting Pitchers W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO UA-Trey Pilkington (So., RHP) 0-0 3.38 6/0 8.0 4 4 3 4 8 JSU-Taylor Sparks (Fr., LHP) 0-0 4.67 4/3 17.1 21 10 9 6 8 Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (CTSN) Play-by-Play: Chris Stewart and Lee Tracey Stations: WFFN-FM 95.3 and WTSK-AM 790 - Tuscaloosa and CTSN Affiliates TV: None Streaming Audio/Video: www.RollTide.com Live Stats: www.RollTide.com Alabama on the Radio Both mid-week baseball games can be heard on the on the radio through the Crimson Tide Sports Network. Tuesday's game can be heard on WFFN-FM 95.3 and WTSK-AM 790 in Tuscaloosa, as well as other stations around Alabama, or on RollTide.com, with Chris Stewart and Lee Tracey calling the action live from Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Due to conflicts with men's basketball, Wedneday's game will be on WTSK-AM 790 in Tuscaloosa, as well as other stations around Alabama, or on RollTide.com, with Lee Tracey calling the action.
UAB Blazers at a Glance The Blazers were 8-3 on the season before losing five straight games. They came back with a three-game sweep over Tennessee-Martin last weekend to improve to 11-8 overall. Offensively, UAB is led by junior centerfielder Jamal Austin (.403, 13 stolen bases), run-producing third-baseman Patrick Palmeiro (.282, team-leading two home runs and 14 RBI) and spot-sub Ivan De Jesus, who boasts a .448 average and a .529 on-base percentage in 10 games. On the mound, UAB has tallied an impressive 3.30 ERA and has struck out 132 batters in a 169 innings. Ryan Nance has been the most prolific reliever for the Blazers, he has a 0.00 ERA in eight appearances. Nance has worked 11.2 shutout innings and has allowed just five hits against 17 strikeouts and collected four saves. Ryan Woolley is the probable starter for Tuesday and enters the game with a 3-2 record and a 2.38 ERA in 34.0 innings pitched. Series History versus UAB The Crimson Tide and the Blazers have met 57 times over the past 36 years and Alabama leads the series 41-16. The Tide has won seven of the last 10 matchups, but UAB swept the series with Alabama last year, winning at UAB 6-4 and in Tuscaloosa 11-4. In 1999, Alabama matched the NCAA record with 13 home runs against UAB in a 30-4 rout on April 14. The 30 runs are the most scored in a game by either team in the series. The mark for the Blazers is 12 runs in 12-2 victory in 1980. Jacksonville State Gamecocks at a Glance The Gamecocks are a complete team out of the Ohio Valley Conference and have tallied an impressive 14-5 record during its non-conference schedule. Jacksonville State opened the season with consecutive losses to Auburn (9-4) and Kennesaw State (9-6), but rebounded and has won 14 of their last 17, including sweeps of Middle Tennessee, Harvard, and Southern Illinois. JSU is deep offensively where four of their everyday players hit over .350. Third baseman Coty Blanchard leads the way at .485 and an impressive OBP of .551. Others carrying a .350 average or better are Ben Waldrip (.397, team-high four homeruns), Erik Underwood (.383), and Sam Eberle (.366, six doubles, three homers, and a team-leading 26 RBI). The Gamecocks are hitting .298 as a team and have overpowered their opponents with 10 home runs against just four. JSU also has a 3.42 team ERA and opponents are hitting just .267 against them. Taylor Sparks is the probable starter on the mound and enters the game with a 0-0 record and a 4.67 ERA in four appearances with three starts as a freshman. Series History versus Jacksonville State The Gamecocks have played Alabama 31 times and trail the Crimson Tide 24-7 in the overall series. Alabama has won eight of the last 10 and is currently on a seven-game win streak against JSU. Six of Alabama's 24 wins against JSU have been shutouts, including a 17-0 win in 2001. Last Week in Review The Alabama baseball team posted a 2-2 record on the week and is now 13-7 overall after opening Southeastern Conference play with a series win at Mississippi, taking the final two games of the series from the Rebels. After opening the series against Mississippi with a 4-0 loss, the Crimson Tide posted a 7-5 win on Saturday and a 6-4 win on Sunday. The 7-5 win over Mississippi on Saturday was the first road win of the season for the Tide. Alabama opened the week with a 2-1 loss to No. 24 Auburn in the Capital City Classic on Tuesday in Montgomery, Ala. UA hit .254 for the week, with four players posting an average of .385 or better. The Alabama pitching staff held their opponents to a .225 batting average in four games, and the Tide pitchers held Mississippi to a .229 average in the three-game series. The bullpen allowed just one earned run in 10.2 innings for the week, allowing eight hits. Player Notes In the four games, Taylor Dugas was 6-for-12 with a home run and six walks, and has now hit safely in the last 10 games. Dugas has reached base in 10 straight games and 19-of-20 games this season. He now leads the club with 27 hits, eight doubles, three triples, two home runs and 22 runs scored. He has scored at least one run in 16-of-20 games this season. Andrew Miller is now hitting .346 for the season after going 7-for-11 in the series against Mississippi. He had a triple, scored four runs and had three RBI, and hit safely in seven of his last nine at-bats of the series. Miller had four hits in the game on Saturday and three hits on Sunday. His second hit on Saturday drove in two runs, snapping a 20-inning scoring drought for Alabama. Jeremiah Tullidge was 3-for-7 in the series against Mississippi and is now hitting .286 for the season, after starting games two and three of the series in left field. James Tullidge started games two and three of the series at third base and was 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while producing two walks and two sac bunts. Jonathan Smart appeared in three of the four games, posting a 2.08 ERA in 4.1 innings with two saves. He held opponents to a .188 average, allowing three hits and one run, with three strikeouts and two walks. Smart recorded the saves in games two and three of the Mississippi series for career saves two and three. For the season, he has a 1.93 ERA in a team-high nine appearance in 18.1 innings pitched. Taylor Wolfe appeared in two games, posting a 2.35 ERA, allowing two runs in 7.2 innings. Wolfe started against Auburn, throwing 6.0 innings with four hits, two earned runs, and eight strikeouts as a starter. He then threw 1.2 innings of relief on Sunday against Mississippi, did not allow a hit with one walk and a strikeout against the Rebels. Tucker Hawley improved to 4-1 on the season after throwing 5.1 innings to get the win on Sunday against Mississippi. Hawley held the Rebels scoreless for three innings, running his scoreless inning streak to 20, before allowing a single run in the fourth inning. Adam Morgan improved to 3-1 after earning the win on Saturday. Morgan retired the first 11 batters he faced, before allowing five runs (four earned) on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. Nathan Kilcrease took the loss on Friday after throwing 7.0 innings allowing four runs (two earned) on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk. Kilcrease leads the Alabama pitching staff with 35 strikeouts and has an ERA of 2.30 for the season in five starts with a team-high 31.1 innings pitched. Brett Whitaker allowed three hits and did not give up a run in 2.0 innings of relief on Saturday. Whitaker has seven appearances and a 2.25 ERA in 8.0 innings out of the bullpen. Dugas Joins 200-Hit Club When Taylor Dugas recorded his second hit against Eastern Illinois on March 13, he notched his 200th hit at Alabama, becoming the 19th player in school history to reach the 200-hit mark. He finished the series against Mississippi with five hits to bring his career total to 206 and passed Alex Avila (2006-08) for 18th place all-time. Dugas, who has a team-high 27 hits in 20 games this season, needs three hits to pass Brandon May (2007-09) for 17th place and five hits to pass Beau Hearod (2001-03) for 16th. On Deck for the Tide Alabama returns to SEC action with a three-game weekend series against Kentucky, beginning on Friday, March 25 at 6:35 p.m. Game two begins at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday and game three gets underway at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday, March 27.Probable Starting Pitchers W-L ERA G/GS IP H R ER BB SO
UA-Charley Sullivan (So., RHP) 0-1 3.27 6/0 11.0 18 7 4 2 11
UAB-Ryan Woolley (Sr., RHP) 3-2 2.38 5/5 34.0 30 11 9 7 28
