Baseball Heads to Birmingham for Midweek with UAB at Regions Field
3/19/2018 5:47:00 PM | Baseball
The Crimson Tide and Blazers will meet for the 75th time in the history of the two programs
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball will kick off its five-game stretch away from Tuscaloosa with a midweek contest against UAB on Tuesday evening at Regions Field. The game will be the fifth meeting between the two schools at Regions and the 75th meeting overall.
FOLLOW THE TIDE
Fans can follow Tuesday's matchup via the below outlets:
Watch: Conference USA TV
Listen: 102.9 FM / CTSN / TuneIn App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: UABSports.com
LEADING OFF
• Alabama and UAB will meet for the 75th time in series history when the teams square off on Tuesday evening. The matchup will also be the fifth game between the two schools played at Regions Field in Birmingham, home of the Birmingham Barons.
• The Crimson Tide leads the all-time series 50-24, including a 17-9 mark in Birmingham. Alabama also holds the 3-1 advantage in the four games played at Regions Field. The series began on April 10, 1974, with the Tide winning the first five games in the series before the Blazers came away with a 3-2 win in Birmingham on March 4, 1979. The teams have played home-and-homes with one game apiece in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa since 2001.
• The Crimson has won seven of the last 10 games, including the last three matchups. In the last 10 series, Alabama holds a slight 3-2 advantage with five of the yearly pairings splitting even with each time at one win apiece.
• Alabama won both games of last season's home-and-home. The Crimson Tide first secured a 4-1 win on March 21 in Birmingham before welcoming UAB to The Joe on April 11 with Alabama earning the 6-4 win in game two of the year.
• UAB welcomes Alabama to Regions holding an 8-10 overall mark, including a 2-1 record in Conference USA play. The Blazers are coming off a week that saw them go 2-2. UAB hosted Troy for a midweek matchup on March 13, falling to the Trojans by a score of 4-1. They followed that by taking two of three games from Marshall this past weekend. The series opener went in favor of UAB, 5-2, with the Blazers claiming the series victory on Saturday thanks to a 3-1 win. The Thundering Herd avoided the sweep with a 6-0 shutout win on Sunday to close out the opening weekend of C-USA play.
• Alabama will send junior Sam Gardner to the mound on Tuesday evening. The right-hander began the season as the Crimson Tide's Sunday starter before moving to the bullpen last weekend against Georgia. Gardner is 1-0 with a 4.58 ERA (9 ER/17.2 IP) across his five appearances, including four starts.
• UAB's starter is still to be announced.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
UA – Sam Gardner (Jr., RHP) vs. UAB – TBA
ABOUT ALABAMA
• Alabama is coming off a week that saw the Crimson Tide go 3-2 overall, first with a two-game midweek sweep of Alabama A&M before securing an extra-innings victory in game one of this weekend's three-game series with Georgia to open SEC play.
• With runners on second and third and two down, Joe Breaux singled through the left side to cross the game-winner and help Alabama walk off Georgia, 10-9, in 13 innings on Friday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium as the Crimson Tide came away with the victory despite a season-high four errors in the field that led to six unearned runs.
• Dylan Duarte tallied the win with 3.0 innings of scoreless relief, allowing two hits while striking out a pair in the series opener.
• Eight of the nine Crimson Tide starters on offense recorded at least one hit with seven total players tallying multi-hit efforts on Friday. Alabama was led by Cobie Vance and Jett Manning, who each provided three-hit days. Chandler Avant led UA in RBI with three as part of his 2-for-6 night, while Chandler Taylor added a team-high three runs scored, finishing 2-for-6 with a home run.
• A five-run eighth was not enough, as the Tide's comeback came up just short in Saturday's 6-5 loss to Georgia. Alabama had one hit through its first seven innings before the bats woke up for five runs on four hits and an error in the eighth. The tying and winning runs reached for UA with two down in that same inning, but UA was unable to capitalize on the opportunity.
• Avant led all hitters with a 2-for-4 day that included a grand slam, four RBI and one run scored in the middle game of the weekend.
• Alabama fell short in its comeback effort, as the Crimson Tide suffered a 6-5 loss to Georgia in Sunday's series finale. In a back and forth game, Alabama evened the score once and was within one run of tying the game on two separate occasions but was unable to complete the comeback. Georgia's two unearned runs in the eighth would prove the difference after a defensive miscue by the Tide extended the inning before an eventual home run secured the win for the Bulldogs.
• The Crimson Tide swept Alabama A&M with back-to-back shutouts on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. The first midweek matchup saw the Tide come away with a 15-0 win before returning for a 14-0 victory on Wednesday evening.
• Alabama's bats maintained a .431 (28-65) average in the two games with the Bulldogs. The Tide recorded 15 extra-base hits, including seven doubles, one triple and seven home runs. The offensive effort was highlighted by Connor Stutts. The redshirt sophomore outfielder batter .500 (4-8) in his first two career starts at UA. Stutts collected one double and two home runs with a team-high seven RBI, while also adding one walk and three runs scored.
• Vance also posted a pair of impressive performances against A&M. The junior infielder batted .667 (4-6) with a double, two RBI and paced the team in walks (3) and runs scored (5).
• Alabama's arms limited the Bulldogs to only nine hits and kept Alabama A&M off the scoreboard over their 14.0 innings of work.
• Five different starters ended the night with multi-hit efforts as UA cruised to the Tuesday win. The Crimson Tide sprinted out to an early 8-0 lead, batting around in the first and using eight hits to score its eight runs. Alabama totaled three doubles and five singles with one hit-by-pitch to put the game out of reach early. The eight-run inning was the highest single-inning output by the UA offense this season.
• Alabama added six more runs in the fifth before a solo home run in the sixth capped the night's scoring on Tuesday.
• Tide starter Mason Duke posted an impressive performance in game one of the midweek series, finishing the night with a career-high 6.0 scoreless innings. The junior allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out five for his second win in as many starts.
• A season-high five home runs and an impressive pitching performance helped Alabama record its second consecutive shutout on Wednesday at The Joe.
• Eight of the nine starters for UA tallied at least one hit with all 10 Alabama batters reaching base safely on one or more occasion. The Tide bats totaled five home runs, highlighted by a two-homer game from Hunter Alexander. The senior finished 2-for-4 with a career-high and team-high five RBI along with two runs scored.
• Freshman Brady Greene secured his first career win with 3.0 innings of scoreless baseball on Wednesday. The right-hander allowed three hits and issued two walks while striking out one Bulldog hitter. Greene combined with starter Davis Vainer along with fellow relievers Tyler Adams and Duarte for the shutout win.
• Alabama returned 21 letterwinners while losing 11 from the 2017 squad. The 2018 Crimson Tide welcomed back eight positional starters and three starting pitchers while hosting 11 newcomers (including one transfer who sat out last season).
ABOUT UAB
• UAB returned 21 letterwinners, including six positional starters and nine pitchers, from the 2017 team that went 24-31 overall and 9-21 in Conference USA. The 2018 roster is without 13 letterwinners from a season ago, a number that includes three positional starters and six pitchers, while UAB welcomes 13 newcomers.
• The Blazers were selected to finish 11th overall in Conference USA in the conference's preseason poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches.
• Brian Shoop is in his 12th year leading the UAB program and his 29th season overall as a head coach. A 1980 graduate of Malone University (Ohio), Shoop is assisted by Perry Roth and Josh Hooper along with the legendary Ron Polk serving as the Blazers' volunteer assistant coach.
• UAB baseball was founded in 1979 with the program holding a 1,082-1,044-1 record entering the 2018 season. The Blazers have won one Conference USA title, coming in the 2012 season, and have made two NCAA postseason appearances with the most recent one coming in that 2012 campaign.
• The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public university located in Birmingham, Ala., and boasts an enrollment of 20,902 students. Founded in 1966, it is one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System, joining Alabama-Huntsville and UA in Tuscaloosa.
ON DECK
Alabama will continue on its roadtrip this weekend, traveling to Knoxville for a three-game series with the Tennessee Volunteers. The series opener in the Tide's first SEC road series is set for 5:30 p.m. CT followed by a 5 p.m. first pitch on Saturday. Sunday's contest will close out the weekend with a 2 p.m. start on getaway day. The final two games of the weekend can be seen nationally on SEC Network.
