May 19, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB Blazers lost their regular season finale against No. 29 East Carolina Saturday afternoon at Young Memorial Field, 10-2. With the loss, UAB finishes in a tie for fourth in the Conference USA standings which ties the highest finish in the league for the Blazers. ECU locks up second place in the league standings and will now host the Conference USA Tournament at Clark-LeClair Stadium beginning Wednesday.

UAB finishes the regular season with a record of 25-31 (12-12 C-USA), while the Pirates of ECU close out the campaign at 36-20 (14-9 C-USA) and will look to take advantage of home field advantage for the C-USA Tournament next week.

Pirate right-hander Josh Dowdy (4-1) threw six innings on Saturday, allowing two runs and striking out four to win his fourth game of the season. Right-hander Shane Matthews finished the last 2.2 innings to come up just shy of notching the save. He struck out four of his 10 batters faced.

UAB freshman southpaw Shay Crawford (4-4) got the loss, going 3.1 innings and allowing five earned runs, while striking out three.

Sophomore outfielder Brint Hardy had two triples to go 2-for-4 for the day with an RBI and a run scored. The two triples tied the UAB record for triples in a game.

Senior outfielder J.R. Bond was 2-for-5 on his senior day, while senior third baseman Ryne Lovdahl also shined on his day by going 2-for-4 with a run scored.

East Carolina was led by right fielder Ryan Tousley and his 3-for-5 effort with three runs scored. Catcher David Forbes was 3-for-4 with three RBI, while center fielder Harrison Eldridge was 3-for-3.

The Pirates put up three three-run innings on the Blazers with the first coming in the second. Tousley made it all the way to third to lead off the inning on a single to third base where a throwing error allowed him to move all the way around to third. He then scored on a wild pitch by Crawford.

Forbes delivered the big blow of the inning and perhaps of the game, launching a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it 3-0.

ECU went on to score three more runs in the fourth to make it 6-0 before UAB got its two runs in the sixth to cut the deficit to 6-2. The Pirates were just too much, however as they struck for three more runs in the eighth and then added a final run in the ninth to claim the 10-2 victory.

The Blazers have now completed their regular season and will begin play in the Conference USA Tournament in Greenville, N.C. on Wednesday. Check back at UABsports.com for the team's first round pairing and start time Sunday evening.