April 27, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB took a lead in the second inning and led up until the top of the eighth when an eight-run inning by Marshall propelled the Thundering Herd to a 10-6 victory over the Blazers at Young Memorial Field Sunday afternoon. Third baseman Luke Stewart hit two home runs to pace UAB.

Marshall improves to 22-21-1 (9-8-1 C-USA) with the win, while UAB drops to 19-24 (4-11 C-USA) after missing out on the opportunity to pass Memphis and UCF in the league standings with a win.

Adam Dobies (1-2) got the win on the mound for Marshall after just retiring one batter to end the seventh inning. Arik Sikula received his seventh save of the year after retiring just one batter in the ninth.

Kyle Roberson (4-5) got the loss after throwing 7.0 innings before getting in trouble in the eighth. Roberson gave up five runs on 10 hits, while striking out five.

Aside from Stewart's two-hit day, second baseman Nick Crawford, right fielder Brint Hardy and designated hitter Kevin Cope each had two hits as well.

Center fielder Nate Lape led the Thundering Herd offensively by going 3-for-5 with two RBI, two doubles and a home run.

UAB went ahead 2-0 in the first. Stewart scored the first run of the inning by lining a solo home run to right-center field and then Hardy walked to reach base and later scored on a single to right-center by catcher Andrew Manning.

In the fourth, UAB extended its lead to 3-0 when Crawford grounded a single up the middle to score Cope.

Marshall got on the board in the top of the fifth when right fielder Ben Jurevicius doubled and then scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by third baseman Brandon Cassamassima to make it 3-1.

A leadoff double by Lape set up Herd catcher Tommy Johnson to hit an RBI-single through the left side to narrow the Blazer lead to 3-2.

Hardy led off the bottom half of the fifth for UAB and hit a long drive off the center field wall which he legged into a triple before scoring on a ground ball by Cope that resulted in a fielding error to take a 4-2 lead. Hardy's triple was the eighth of his career, tying him for seventh all-time at UAB.

Things came unraveled in the top of the eighth for UAB as Roberson gave up a double to Lape to begin the inning. Lape then scored on an RBI-single by designated hitter Victor Gomez. Gomez was replaced by pinch runner Matt Helm who moved up to third on a single and then scored on a wild pitch by UAB reliever Johnny Volk to tie the game, 4-4.

Marshall went on to load the bases with just one out in the inning and Beau Pender on in relief for UAB and Marshall shortstop Adam Yeager lined a three-run triple that landed on the right field line paint and rolled to the corner to allow all three runs to score and give Marshall a 7-4 lead.

The Herd got three more runs home in the inning, including a two-run home run by Lape to take a 10-4 lead heading to the bottom of the eighth.

Stewart's second home run of the day in the bottom half of the eighth made it 10-5 and then shortstop Jonathan Merritt scored on a single to left-center by first baseman Ryan Keedy in the ninth to cut the deficit to 10-6 before Marshall was able to close out the game with the tying run on-deck.

UAB will next play on Friday when it travels to play East Carolina at 6:00 p.m.