April 22, 2005

Stats

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Seth Rollin homered, tripled and drove in three runs, Cole Helms pitched seven strong innings and Eric Roberts converted his eighth save in 10 tries as UAB downed Cincinnati, 5-2, in the first of a three-game Conference USA series Friday night at Young Memorial Field.

The Blazers moved to 24-14 and 9-7 in C-USA play with the win while snapping a three game losing streak. Cincinnati fell to 16-18 overall and 5-10 in league play.

"It feels great to win," UAB head coach Larry Giangrosso said. "We tell the guys that baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. You don't want to get too high when you win and don't want to get to low when you lose. During that (losing) spell, the only concern we had was that we wanted to continue to do the little things and not get frustrated. At times we did, but we pulled it back together tonight. You have to just keep plugging because it's a long haul."

Rollin and Zac Ward both went 2-for-4 on the night while Helms (3-0) struck out five and walked just one over seven innings for UAB.

"(Cole) threw a lot of strikes and challenged hitters," Giangrosso said. "He just went after them. He came in with his breaking ball. When you've got a guy like him on the mound, you've got a chance to compete. It's just a great thing to see zeros up there from our pitching staff"

After J.R. Bond reached on a single to start the UAB fourth, Seth Rollin drove a first-pitch breaking ball from Cincy starter Tony Maynard over the wall in left to give the Blazers a 2-0 lead. It was Rollin's sixth round-tripper of the year.

The Blazers added two more in the sixth with three straight hits to start the inning. Helms doubled to right field, Rollin tripled down the left field line and Zac Ward singled past a diving Jon DeLuca at third base, scoring Rollin.

Freshman Clint Toomey led off the eighth with his first career home run. Each of UAB's first five runs came off Maynard, who fell to 5-3 with the loss. He surrendered eight hits while striking out three and walking one. All five of the runs were earned.

Cincinnati scored its runs in the eighth inning off Blazers' reliever Ryan Huffman. Jon DeLuca drove a two-out single to left field, scoring Mark Haske and Logan Parker, who each singled to lead off the inning. Roberts allowed two hits in the ninth, including a leadoff double to Bearcat firstbaseman Jim Olds, but got Brian Szarmach looking with runners on the corners to end it.

The contest featured a 49 minute rain delay between the third and fourth innings as thunderstorms moved through Birmingham.

The teams resume the weekend series at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon with Sunday's rubber match contest set for 1 p.m.