UAB Fall Update

FROM PRESS RELEASE
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB baseball team, which finished tied for fourth in the Conference USA standings last season, wrapped up its 33-day fall camp this past weekend. The Blazers return 19 letterwinners from last season's club and have added 14 newcomers. UAB head coach Brian Shoop said overall he was pleased with the camp and progression of the returning veterans.

"They are all better and more comfortable," Shoop said. "Ryan Keedy is significantly better and has been a model for what we wanted this fall. (Jonathan) Merritt's much better after playing about 35 games up in the Northwood League this past summer and I think (Brint) Hardy's a lot better."

In the team's seven-game Green vs. Gold series this fall, Keedy, a senior first baseman, hit .429 with an RBI and three walks, while Hardy hit .417 with three runs scored, a double and one triple.

The Green club won the series 4-2-1.

Junior catcher/infielder Allen Aubin shined in the series, batting .500 with two RBI, two doubles and a home run, while fellow Green teammate Austin Taylor, a junior outfielder in his first season with the Blazers, hit .667 with an RBI and three walks.

Another newcomer that had a strong series was freshman infielder Nick Crawford, who hit .333 with a pair of walks and runs scored, in addition to playing superior defense.

"Nick Crawford has such energy and passion and he probably led us in fielding percentage this fall. A lot of schools backed off of recruiting Nick because he's so small (5-7, 145 lbs), but we've been the fortunate beneficiaries of that because those schools missed, he's a very good player," Shoop said. "Austin Taylor had a very good offensive fall, but he's going to need to defend better."





The Blazers not only showed improvements at the plate this fall, but also on the mound. Shoop said he was pleased with the progress of the staff and believes he has some first-year arms that will be able to contribute in the upcoming 2008 season.

"Kyle Roberson had a very good fall and it's important that he carries that over to the spring," Shoop said. "Mitch (Kloskowski) was super in the fall as well. Our veterans were almost a man better than a year ago and that's the natural progression you hope for."

Roberson struck out three in three innings and allowed just one run in his fall series start, while his counterpart, Kloskowski, also struck out three and allowed one run in three innings in earning a tie.

Senior right-hander Brandon Flaherty allowed no runs and struck out five batters in his start, while fellow senior Brandon Wallace nearly mirrored that performance, striking out five in allowing just one run in his three innings.

Two new arms Shoop was impressed with during fall camp were those of junior transfers Beau Pender and Johnny Volk. Pender, who is coming back from injury, saw limited action in the Green vs. Gold series, while Volk pitched three innings, struck out two and issued no walks.

"Pender is a legitimate Conference USA weekend guy so we need him to come back healthy for us," Shoop said. "Volk throws a lot of strikes and has an unorthodox delivery which makes him effective and he is a very competitive kid."

The Blazers will begin winter training on Feb. 1, 2008.

Raleigh Lands Tennessee Pitcher

New Tennessee coach Todd Raleigh is starting to fill in his first recruiting class in Knoxville. He reached into middle Tennessee and plucked Adam Adkins, the cousin of former Vol and Mount Juliet, TN ace James Adkins. Adkins was 11-0 with a 1.07 ERA and 107 strikeouts for Goodpasture in 2007. His accolades include two no-hitters, one in the 8-AA championship tournament.

Tom Kreager of the Tennessean reported on the commitment of Adkins, who chose Tennessee over interest from Alabama-Birmingham, Belmont, East Tennessee State, Georgia, Kentucky, Lipscomb, Middle Tennessee State and Ole Miss.

Read the article here.

C-USA Game 6: Tulane 13, UAB 5

On Thursday night, Tulane found itself caught in a pitcher's battle. The Green Wave scattered eight hits and managed only two runs in their loss to East Carolina.

Things didn't stay that way during their second-round game in the Conference USA Tournament. Tulane smacked 21 hits and topped its Wednesday total in three different innings as the Green Wave eliminated UAB 13-5.

Anthony Scelfo led the way for Tulane, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and one RBI. Four other Green Wave players had three hits on the day and four had multiple RBIs.

Tulane advances to a 6:30 p.m. EDT game on Friday against the loser of the East Carolina-Southern Miss game. UAB finished its season with a 25-34 mark under first-year coach Brian Shoop.

C-USA Game 3: Southern Miss 9, UAB 5

Sometimes, it only takes one good inning. Southern Miss had that in the seventh, plating six runs to take a 9-5 victory over UAB in the third game of the Conference USA Baseball Tournament.

UAB appeared ready to cruise to a first-day victory. The Blazers chased Ryan Belanger - who had been named the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week earlier in the day - with a four-run fifth inning to take a 5-1 lead over the third-seeded Golden Eagles. A passed ball and a double by Ryan Keedy highlighted the inning for UAB.

With two on in the seventh, a throwing error by UAB advanced the runners and scored Trey Sutton. A bases-loaded walk was followed by a double by James Ewing that scored three for Southern Miss, who later scored on another throwing error. The win extended Southern Miss' win streak to 11 games. Reliever Tyler Conn earned his first win of the season.

The Golden Eagles advance to a 7:30 p.m. EDT game Thursday against the winner of the East Carolina-Tulane game. UAB will face the loser of that contest in an elimination game at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday.

Game story

Conference USA Tuesday recap

Memphis 10, Arkansas State 5
JONESBORO, Ark. - Freshman Brennon Martin scattered 10 hits and struck out four in 6.1 innings of work and senior Adam Amar tied the Memphis' all-time RBI record with a run-scoring single in the first inning, as the Tigers clinched their 30th win of the year in a 10-5 victory over Arkansas State Tuesday evening at Tomlinson Stadium. Amar's RBI was his 170th and ties him with Chris Marable, who lettered at the U of M from 1986-89.

The win guarantees the Tigers' fourth winning season since 1995. It also seals the program's first back-to-back winning seasons since the 1994 and 1995 campaigns. Memphis is now 30-18 on the year and Arkansas State is 19-29. The evening also marked the official opening of Barton's Baseball Deck at ASU's Tomlinson Stadium.

The two squads will meet in the series finale on Wednesday at Nat Buring Stadium. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.

Memphis recap
Arkansas State recap

Troy 20, UAB 15
TROY, Ala. - The UAB Blazers entered Tuesday's game at Troy as one of only three teams in the nation to have more triples than home runs, but that all changed as the Blazers blasted a season-high six home runs, only to be outdone by the Trojans who out-slugged the Blazers for a 20-15 victory at Riddle-Pace Field. Junior first baseman Ryan Keedy had two home runs to highlight his 3-for-4 showing.

Troy improves to 30-20 with the win, while UAB is now 20-30 and has completed its non-conference schedule.

The Blazers will next be in action on Friday when they begin a three-game Conference USA series at Marshall at 6 p.m. Troy will close out its home schedule with a Sun Belt Conference series against New Orleans this weekend. First pitch Friday night is set for 6 p.m.

UAB recap
Troy recap

UCF 14, Stetson 3
DELAND, Fla. - Mitch Herold's career-high nine strikeouts and the offense's record-breaking eighth inning enabled the UCF baseball team to defeat Stetson, 14-3, Tuesday in DeLand, Fla. The Knights (24-26) sent 17 batters to the plate in the eighth vs. the Hatters (36-13), notching 10 hits and scoring 11 runs, the most runs ever in an eighth inning by a UCF offense.

The Conference USA schedule resumes this weekend as UCF wraps up its seven-game road trip at No. 30 East Carolina. First pitch of the three-game series is set for Friday at 7 p.m. Stetson travels to Nashville, Tenn. to face Lipscomb in an Atlantic Sun Conference series.

Central Florida recap
Stetson recap

Citadel 8, No. 30 East Carolina 6
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Ryan Wood's career night was not enough to help East Carolina, as the Pirates fell 8-6 to The Citadel Tuesday night in midweek action at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The Pirates will be back in action Wednesday night when the play host to No. 4 North Carolina. Jeff Ostrander will take the hill for ECU with a first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. (EDT). The Citadel will travel to Columbia, S.C. to face No. 7 South Carolina. First pitch is set for 8 p.m. EDT.

The Citadel recap
East Carolina recap

Conference USA weekend recap

The city of Houston broke out the brooms this weekend, as Rice and Houston both swept Conference USA series. The two schools are now 1-2 in the C-USA standings. Marshall also broke into the league win column in convincing fashion over the weekend.

Houston at No. 24 Tulane

Quality pitching was this weekend's story for Houston, as well. Aaron Brown set the tone with seven shutout innings in Friday's 7-0 win. The Cougars received a quality effort from Wes Musick (one run on five hits with eight strikeouts) on Saturday, but it was Bryan Pounds two-RBI single in the top of the ninth that gave UH a 2-1 win. Freshman John Touchton was solid in Sunday's 6-4 win, allowing three runs on six hits over seven innings.

Houston recaps

Tulane recaps

UCF at No. 6 Rice

Rice's three wins in a row over UCF marked the 36th consecutive home series that the Owls have won, including sweeps in 23 of those. Solid pitching was the key to this series victory, as Rice allowed just three runs in three games. Joe Savery finished off the sweep with his best pitching effort of the season in Sunday's 8-0 win, allowing on hit over a season-long seven innings.

UCF recaps

Rice recaps

Marshall at Memphis

Memphis posted a 5-3 victory over Marshall on Friday night before that series took a dramatic turn. The Thundering Herd scored a season-high 21 runs in a 21-7 win on Saturday and then posted their first-ever shutout in C-USA play, defeating the Tigers, 11-0. Marshall scored 32 runs on 34 hits in the final two games of the series and were aided by seven Memphis errors. The wins snapped a 16-game losing streak for the Herd, which moved into eighth place in the league standings.

Marshall recaps

Memphis recaps

UAB at Southern Miss

UAB opened its series at Southern Miss with a 6-1 win, as Ben Styes earned the victory with 5.2 shutout innings. But, the Golden Eagles rebounded to take the final two games of the series, 6-4 and 8-4. David Clark tied a career high with eight strikeouts in Sunday's win.

UAB recaps

Southern Miss recaps

Savannah State at East Carolina

East Carolina stepped out of league play this weekend and posted three consecutive victories over Savannah State, outscoring them 34-7. The Pirates are now 28-12 on the season.

Savannah State recaps

East Carolina recaps

C-USA Players of the week

After setting the tone for a three-game sweep at No. 23 Tulane, Houston junior righthander Aaron Brown has been named Conference USA Pitcher of the Week for the period of April 16-22. Hitter of the Week honors went to Marshall junior C Tommy Johnson, whose career-best weekend helped the Thundering Herd to a series win at Memphis.

Conference USA Release

Conference USA Wednesday recap

East Carolina 9, Old Dominion 5

GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, breaking a five-all tie to extend the Pirates' current winning streak of four games with a 9-5 victory over former Colonial Athletic Association foe Old Dominion Wednesday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium.

Harrison Eldridge and Stephen Batts put the Pirates (25-12) on top for good as each belted a pair of two-run shots in the seventh. Freshman shortstop Gerard Hall hit his first collegiate homer, a solo shot in the top of the fourth for Old Dominion (25-16).

ECU will be back in action this weekend when they play host to Savannah State in a non-conference series. The Monarchs return to action this weekend when they host Delaware in a three-game CAA series.

Old Dominion recap
East Carolina recap

Southern Miss 16, Louisiana-Monroe 4
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss' Mike Cashion earned a victory in his second-straight start and the Golden Eagles scored 16 runs on 10 hits to defeat Louisiana-Monroe, 16-4, tonight, at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field in front of 3,115 in attendance.

Brian Dozier led the Golden Eagles with three hits, two RBIs and scored three runs. Jody Blount hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Drew Carson finished with two hits and Michael Ewing, Trey Sutton, James Ewing and Trey Cuevas each had one hit and two RBIs.

Matt Laird, Kyle Suire and Greg Manley led Louisiana-Monroe with two hits each. Laird, Suire, Bo Bowman and A.J. Siggers all finished with an RBI.

Southern Miss (23-15) scored 16 runs on 10 hits, while Louisiana-Monroe (23-16) scored four runs on 10 hits and committed five errors.

The Golden Eagles host C-USA rival UAB for the final three games of the current eight-game homestand this weekend, April 20-22. ULM kicks off a four-game home stand on Friday with a weekend series against Sun Belt foe Western Kentucky at Warhawk Field at 6 p.m.

Louisiana-Monroe recap
Southern Miss recap

Memphis 13, Austin Peay 7
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Michael Murray was perfect in four at-bats and freshman Dylan Cupples struck out a career-best five batter and allowed just three hits in six innings as Memphis earned a series sweep of the Governors with a 13-7 win on Wednesday evening. Memphis is now 24-14, marking the first time since 2001 that a Tiger squad has been 10 games over .500.

Austin Peay (20-16) got on the board first with a run in the opening frame, but Memphis set the tone for the contest by answering with a pair of tallies in the top half of the second. Kyle Norrid's four-pitch got the rally going and Michael Murray followed with a double into the left centerfield gap. Designated hitter Ben Grisham got Memphis on the board when he lined a two-run single to left center for two of six two-out scores for the Tigers.

Memphis will host Marshall in a Conference USA series beginning on Friday. Austin Peay will host Southeast Missouri in an OVC series, beginning with a doubleheader on Saturday.

Memphis recap
Austin Peay recap

UAB 15, Jacksonville State 5
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB Blazers bounced back from Tuesday's disappointing loss and returned the favor Wednesday night, taking advantage of 13 walks to beat the Jacksonville State Gamecocks, 15-5, at Young Memorial Field. The Blazers were led by junior outfielder Phil Bell who was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two doubles. Junior right-hander Dustin Colburn earned the win on the mound.

UAB is now 17-22 on the year, just two wins shy of matching last season's win total. JSU falls to 21-17 with the loss.

The Blazers will return to Conference USA action when they travel to Southern Miss for a weekend series. The Gamecocks, who are tied for first place in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 9-3 mark in the Conference, return to action with a three-game Conference series at Eastern Kentucky this weekend.

UAB recap
Jacksonville State recap

Conference USA recap for April 13-15

Rain was the big winner this past weekend, as several series had to work its way around the wet stuff. Highlighting the on-the-field action was Rice's victory in the Silver Glove series.

No. 5 Rice at Houston
Houston posted three runs in the sixth inning against NCBWA Pitcher of the Week Ryan Berry on its way to a 5-2 victory in the Silver Glove series-opener Friday. Joe Savery went 4-for-4 from the plate on Saturday to highlight Rice's 15-hit performance and Ryne Tracker scattered three hits from the mound as the Owls evened the series with a 12-0 shellacking. Jess Buenger went 4-for-5 to lead the Owls to an 11-6 decision on Sunday.

With consecutive wins over UH on Saturday and Sunday, Rice (29-11, 10-2) claimed the weekend series two-games-to-one and retained possession of the Silver Glove Trophy as the city's collegiate champion for a seventh-straight year. The Owls have won the annual trophy in nine of the 10 years it has been awarded dating back to 1998. Houston fell to 19-6 overall, 6-3 in C-USA play.

Rice recaps
Houston recaps

No. 28 Tulane at Southern Miss
Southern Miss scored in the bottom of the first, then saw Tulane plate five unanswered runs as the Green Wave claimed a 7-5 decision in the Friday contest. Torrential rains and tornado warnings cancelled all of Saturday's EagleFest activities, leading to a pair of seven-inning games on Sunday.

Barry Bowden tossed a complete game as Southern Miss took a 5-2 win in the first game of the Sunday doubleheader. The Green Wave scored seven runs in the top of the first and cruised to a 7-1 series-clinching win in the second game. Tulane moved to 27-11 overall, 8-4 in C-USA; Southern Miss is now 22-15, 4-8 in C-USA.

Tulane recaps
Southern Miss recaps

Memphis at UAB
Visiting Memphis held off a late UAB rally to take a 7-6 win on Friday. Blazer officials set Saturday's first pitch for 10:30 a.m. in an effort to beat the incoming storms. It didn't work; the game was suspended after five innings with Memphis holding an 8-4 lead, thanks to an eight-run fourth inning by the Tigers.

The Blazers scored three runs on Sunday in the resumption of Saturday's game, but Memphis' eight-run fourth inning on the previous day held up, as the Tigers claimed an 8-7 decision. A 9-4 final in the third game gave the Tigers a sweep of the weekend series. Memphis has won eight of its last nine conference games and stands at 22-14 overall, 8-4 in C-USA. UAB fell to 16-21 overall, 4-5 in league play.

Memphis recaps
UAB recaps

East Carolina at Marshall
In an effort to beat the incoming weather, the ECU-MU schedule was altered; the two teams played a Friday doubleheader. Freshman Kyle Roller hit his first career home run in the eighth inning of the opener to lift ECU past Marshall 7-4. The Pirates scored seven runs in the third of the nightcap to cruise to a 13-3 sweep of the doubleheader.

The doubleheader sweep turned into a series sweep, as the rains came in and forced the cancellation of the third game. East Carolina moved to 24-12 overall, 6-5 in C-USA. Marshall fell to 14-19 overall, 0-8 in league play.

East Carolina recaps
Marshall recaps

Bama wins a pitching duel over UAB 2-1

Alabama starter Casey Kebodeaux pitched eight innings while only letting up one run on five hits and was followed by Tommy Hunter who struck out two batters in a perfect ninth inning to get hsi fourth save of the year. Alabama grabbed the lead on a sacrifice bunt by Greg Paiml that brought home Ryan Rhoden with the eventual winning run. Alabama will return to action when they visit Vanderbilt while UAB heads to Houston.

Bama Recap
UAB Recap
SeBaseball visits Hoover

Conference USA Recap for 3/20

Southern Miss 9 Louisiana-Monroe 5

The Eagles got their fourth straight victory with a 9-5 victory over Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday evening. Michael Ewing got three hits to lead the offense while Todd McInnis got the victory by going 3.0 innings on a staff night.

Southern Miss Recap
Louisiana-Monroe Recap
Hattiesburg American Recap

New Orleans 14 Tulane 2

The Privateers used a thirteen hit attack to hammer the Tulane Green Wave 14-2 in non-conference action on Tuesday. T.J. Baxter went 3-4 with four runs scored and four driven to lead the offensive charge.

UNO Recap
Tulane Recap

Texas A&M 10 Rice 9 (11 innings)

The Aggies picked up a very tough 10-9 victory over the Rice Owls on Tuesday. The Owls will be back in action on Friday when they visit Southern Miss for a weekend series.

Rice Recap
Texas A&M Recap

Memphis 17 Middle Tennessee State 3

The Memphis Tigers blew out Middle Tennessee State 17-3 on Tuesday. Bill Moss went 3-3 with four RBI and three runs scored to lead the Tigers to the victory.

Memphis Recap
Middle Tennessee State Recap

James Madison 12 Marshall 4

Matt Townsend hit two homers and drove in five runs to lead the Dukes to the 12-4 victory. The teams will face off on Wednesday.

JMU Recap
Marshall Recap

UAB 7 Troy 6

The UAB Blazers used a great relief appearance from James Oliver who entered with the tying run on second and the winning run on first with one out in the eighth but was able to get out of the jam and pick up his first save of the season.

UAB Recap
Troy Recap

UAB preview

Conference USA has posted a preview on the UAB Blazers. They enter the season with a new head coach in Brian Shoop who comes from Birmingham-Southern where he had a record of 692-307-1. He returns 21 letter winners with 4 transfers from Birmingham-Southern in addition to the 11 newcomers from the high school and junior college ranks. The full preview is available here.

UAB Media Relations Department also has posted a preview on the upcoming season which is available here.

UAB new style

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has released a new style for their hats for the coming season. The hats resemble Alabama Crimson Tide but are Green and Gold instead. The full article is available here.