March 18, 2008

UAB-South Alabama Game Notes

The UAB softball team breaks away from its Conference USA schedule for a mid-week matchup with South Alabama Tuesday at Jaguar Field in Mobile.

The Blazers enter the two-game contest with a 14-16 overall record and 1-5 Conference USA record. The Jaguars are 11-13 and 1-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. Both teams dropped their respective conference series last weekend.

This will be the fifth and sixth non-conference road game of the season for UAB, and just the third and fourth home games for South Alabama. It will be the 25th game away from George Ward Park for the Blazers.

Jennifer Nelson and Kayla Harris are each projected to start one game for UAB. The duo had a strong outing against UCF last weekend. The two starters worked a combined 21 innings and allowed just three earned runs.

Andrea Rogers and Holly Krzan are both hitting above .300 for UAB while driving in 28 combined runs.

The Jaguars are led by Evelyne Pare and Tara Donaldson on offense and Beth Pilgrim in the circle.

UAB owns the series only victory, with a 5-1 victory last season.

The first game is schedule to get underway at 2 p.m. with the second game to follow at approximately 4 p.m. Live stats will be made available thru the South Alabama athletic Web site.

Scouting Report - UAB
The Blazers come into the series with the Jaguars having won one game last weekend against UCF. UAB is playing their first non-conference road game since facing Mississippi State on March and will be looking for its first non-conference road win since defeating Mississippi Valley State 5-2 on Feb. 7.

UAB comes into the series hitting .223 as a squad and posting a combined ERA of 3.22. The Blazers are average 3.2 runs per contest.

Holly Krzan and Andrea Rogers have been a formidable duo in the Blazers' lineup after 30 games. Krzan has been the driving force thus far leading the offense in runs (21), hits (28), doubles (8), home runs (3) and RBI (16). Rogers is by far the hottest UAB player at the plate, hitting .462 with an on-base percentage of .563 over the last six games. She has also scored three runs in that time.

UAB made great improvements in the circle against UCF. The pitching staff dropped its ERA to 3.22 giving up just three earned runs in the series with the Knights.

Jennifer Nelson struck out her 150th batter of the season in a losing effort. Nelson has a 3.09 ERA heading into the two games with South Alabama. Kayla Harris is the other side of the Blazers' staff, posting a 3.45 ERA coming in to Tuesday's matchups.

Nelson leads the two pitchers in innings pitched (126.2) and strikeouts. Her 150 Ks is currently 25 more than anyone else in Conference USA.

Scouting Report - South Alabama
The Jaguars return from a six-game road trip to host the Blazers. South Alabama went 2-4 in those six games including two losses to North Texas in its Sun Belt Conference opener.

South Alabama is hitting .241 as a team while the pitching staff has a combined ERA of 2.78 coming into Tuesday's games with UAB.

South Alabama's bats are at one of hottest points of its season right now. The Jaguars are averaging 5.3 runs per game and 9.3 hits, both well above their season average. At the same time, the Jaguars' pitching staff has suffered allowing 6.3 runs and 9.7 hits per game over their last three contests.

Evelyne Pare paces the South Alabama offense, hitting .338 and scoring 15 runs. She is followed closely by Tara Donaldson, leading the Jaguars with a .375 average, six doubles, 27 hits and 36 total bases. Providing the pop for South Alabama is Autumn Hudson and Fallon Fisher, combining for 26 RBI. Hudson's two home runs lead the team. In all, eight players have hit homers for the Jaguars.

Beth Pilgrim leads the South Alabama pitching staff with 93 2-3 innings pitched this season. She leads the team with seven victories and 94 strikeouts. Shannon Smith and Amanda Leggett have both seen considerable time in the circle. Smith posts a 2-3 recrd and 2.05 ERA while Leggett enters with a 1-6 record and 4.76 ERA.

UAB-South Alabama History in Depth
This will be just the second and third games played between the two squads. UAB defeated South Alabama, 5-1, last season on March 13 at George Ward Park. Jennifer Nelson went 3-for-3 at the plate in the victory. Holly Krzan and Andrea Rogers each picked up one hit. Kayla Harris gave up just two hits in the winning effort.

Last Time Out for UAB
UAB hosted UCF and dropped its second conference series of the season. The Knights won the final two games of the three-game series. The Blazers won the first game of the series, 2-0, behind a strong start by Jennifer Nelson who struck out eight. She also the deliverd the game-winning hit.

UAB fell behind by a 3-0 count in the second game, but rallied late to pull within one run. However, UCF held off the surge for the win.

The Blazers were held to one hit and fell 2-0 in the series's rubber match.