April 10, 2002

TONIGHT (Wed.  4/10):

UAB vs. ALABAMA (7 pm CDT)

THIS WEEKEND'S SCHEDULE:

Fri. 4/12 * UAB vs. TULANE (7 pm CDT)

Sat. 4/13 * UAB vs. TULANE (3 pm CDT)

Sun. 4/14 * UAB vs. TULANE (1 pm CDT)

THE BLAZERS: Are 9-22 overall (2-10 C-USA) and coming off a weekend series at Saint Louis (Apr. 5-7), in which the Blazers won one of three games.

AT LEAST THAT'S OVER: Saturday's 8-3 win at Saint Louis snapped a 10-game losing streak for the Blazers (seven games in C-USA play), that streak was the second-longest in school history.

THE CRIMSON TIDE:  Alabama enters tonight's game with a 28-5 overall record and a five-game win streak, the Tide's current national poll rankings:

            Collegiate Baseball: 3rd

            Baseball America: 4th

            Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches': 5th

GOOD NEWS: Tonight's game is not in Tuscaloosa, where Alabama is 22-0 this season.

BAD NEWS: The Blazers will play at Alabama on May 1 (6:30 pm).

UAB vs. ALABAMA:  The Crimson Tide leads the all-time series 24-13, dating back to the 1979 season (UAB's first year of NCAA competition).

LAST SEASON: UAB took both games -- on successive nights, winning 10-6 in Tuscaloosa on Apr. 10 and 6-5 in a thriller at Young Memorial Field (Apr. 11).

UAB STARTER: Freshman right-hander Rusty McIntyre (0-0, 1.42 ERA in four appearances) makes  his first collegiate start tonight.  McIntyre (Decatur, Ala./Decatur HS) had his most recent outing vs. Samford at Young Memorial Field (Mar. 26), working 2.2 innings and allowing one (earned) run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts. McIntyre also saw action in games vs. Alabama State (Mar. 12), Auburn (Mar. 19), and Charlotte (Mar. 22).

BAMA STARTER: Sophomore right-hander Jared Woodward (2-1, 3.58 ERA) will be the first of several pitchers for the Tide tonight.

CALL HIM "GINO": Larry Giangrosso (UAB '75) is in his third season as head coach of the UAB Blazers.  The Birmingham native  is  62-84 (.425)  overall at UAB.  Giangrosso was named head coach at UAB on June 16, 1999.  Prior to that, he spent nine seasons as head coach at Central Alabama Community College (1991-99), where he posted a 320-183-1 (.636) record and led his teams to a state championship (1998) and three conference titles. Giangrosso also had a very successful stint as head coach at Birmingham's W.A. Berry High School (1979-90), where he had a 254-115 (.688) record and led the Bucs to the Alabama 4A state title (1981), as well as five regional and four Jefferson County championships.

A PIONEER: Coach Larry Giangrosso played baseball for UAB in the mid 1970s, prior to the establishment of the NCAA-sanctioned athletics program in 1978.  The team competed essentially as a club program (it was administered by the school's Physical Education Department), but the baseball was definitely real -- the team competed against many of the local and state colleges (e.g. Birmingham-Southern) that UAB faces now (Gino has the letter jacket to prove it).

1K CLUB: Counting his high school, junior college and four-year collegiate head coaching experience, UAB Head Coach Larry Giangrosso worked his 1000th game as a head coach vs. Auburn on Mar. 5.

INJURY PROBLEMS:  Injuries have played a big role in the Blazers' woes this season, virtually every position has been affected at one time or another, and several players have missed a great deal of playing time or are out completely.  A summary of the UAB injury situation as of Apr. 10:

RHP * Andre Parks (back, currently out of starting rotation, day-to-day)

INF *  J.B. Fesmire (back, last played vs. Connecticut on Mar. 9, day-to-day) 

OF *  Chad House (bruised knee, missed four games but now close to 100%) 

OF *  Kyle Leon (abdominal strain, missed eight games, also close to 100%) 

OF* Quincy Williams (hamstring, has played in 21games but rarely at 100%) 

C * Al Hecklinski (shoulder, played in eight early games - will take a medical redshirt).

C * Brad Bamberg (abdominal strain, missed 12 games but now close to 100%)

C * Brett Tilley (out for season after shoulder surgery) 

RHP * Scott Gibson (out for season after shoulder surgery)

YOUNGSTERS CONTRIBUTE:  The Blazers have counted heavily on the contributions of several true freshman this season, including second baseman Seth Rollin (Montgomery, Ala./Jeff Davis HS),  center fielder Chad House (Memphis, Tenn./Christian Brothers HS), and pitcher Tony Falls (Montgomery, Ala./Lee HS).  Rollin and House are every day starters who have appeared in 26 or more games this season, and Falls has been one of the Blazers' top bullpen performers, with 17 appearances.  Also beginning to make an impact are pitcher Jeff Brown (Montgomery, Ala./Calvary Christian Academy) who has nine appearances and started his first collegiate game at Saint Louis last Saturday (Apr. 6) and pitcher Rusty McIntyre (Decatur, Ala./Decatur HS), who has four appearances and will start vs. Alabama tonight.

ROLLIN ALONG: Freshman second baseman Seth Rollin has been swinging a very hot bat over the past week, Rollin hit .583 (7-12) in the Saint Louis series, with two doubles and two RBI. He went 6-8 in Saturday's double-header vs. the Billikens, hitting safely in his first six at-bats that day.  For the week of Apr. 1-7, Rollin hit .467 (7-15). 

UAB vs. THE SEC: The Blazers are 1-2 vs. SEC teams in  2002, with a  3-1 win over Kentucky at Young Memorial Field on Feb. 17 and a 13-1 loss to Auburn at Young Memorial Field (Mar. 5) and a 9-2 loss in Auburn (Mar. 19). UAB finished 4-4 against  SEC teams in 2001. Along with its two wins over Alabama, the Blazers also went 1-1 vs. Mississippi State and Vanderbilt and 0-2 vs. Auburn.

YOUNG MEMORIAL  FIELD:  Jerry D. Young Memorial Field is in its 19th season as the Blazers' home field (the program called historic Rickwood Field home from 1979-83). The Blazers have a 331-206-1 (.616) all-time record at Young Memorial Field (1984-  ) and are 8-11 at home in 2002.

IN PLAY:  The 30-foot high "batter's eye" wall in center field, which was once located behind the outfield fence, is now actually part of the fence and is in play (this became effective at the beginning of the 2001 season after the wooden fence replaced a chain link fence as part of general stadium renovations).

APRIL 13 GAME TIME CHANGED:  Saturday's game vs. Tulane at Young Memorial Field (Apr. 13) has been moved back to a 3:00 pm CDT start time to accomodate the events of "Blazer Day 2002," which include a football spring scrimmage earlier that afternoon.

BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN GAME RE-SCHEDULED: The Feb. 27 home game vs. Birmingham-Southern (which would have been the beginning of an11-game home stand), was postponed because of frigid weather.  The Blazers and Panthers will now face each other on successive nights in May -- Tuesday May 7 on the hilltop at Scrushy-Striplin Field (6 pm) and Wednesday May 8 at Young Memorial Field (7 pm).

PITCHER'S BEST FRIEND: UAB turned eight (8) double-plays in the Houston series, including six (6) in Saturday's game (Mar. 16).  The six twin-killings tied a UAB single-game record, set vs. Middle Tennessee in 2000.

COMING UP: After tonight's game vs. Alabama, the Blazers return to Conference USA action, playing a three-game Conference USA series vs. Tulane, Apr. 12-14 (7 pm/3 pm/1pm).