Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
UAB
Marshall Miscues Lead to 10-4 UAB Baseball Victory
5/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 11, 2007
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CHARLESTON, W.Va. - UAB took advantage of six Marshall errors to run away with a 10-4 victory in game one of a Conference USA baseball series at Appalachian Power Park on Friday.
Marshall's season-high six errors helped the Blazers (21-30, 8-11) snap a four-game losing streak to the Thundering Herd (19-27, 4-14) while aiding UAB's hunt for a C-USA Championship berth. Marshall remains a half-game out of the eighth and final spot in the tournament behind UCF, an 8-6 loser to East Carolina on Friday.
Only four of UAB's 10 runs were earned as the Blazers plated runners in all five of the innings in which the Herd committed an error. Only UAB's three ninth-inning runs came in a frame that Marshall did not commit a miscue.
UAB never trailed as only one of its starters failed to register a hit. Right fielder Brint Hardy paced the Blazers with a 3-for-5 performance, while third baseman Ryne Lovdahl and designated hitter Levi Patmon each drove in two runs.
Marshall sophomore Andrew Blain (Huntington, W.Va.) allowed two singles and a walk in the first inning of his third career start, but got out of a two-out bases-loaded jam with a strikeout of shortstop Jonathan Merritt.
The Blazers plated two runners in the top of the third for the first runs of the series, with the help of a two-out error on the Herd. With a runner on third, Danny Sawyer lined a Blain offering to second baseman Aaron Jamieson (Lindsay, Ontario). The ball popped out of his glove for his first error of the season, allowing Phil Bell to score while keeping the inning alive for a Lovdahl RBI single and a 2-0 UAB lead.
The Blazers tried to add to their lead in the third when Allen Aubin, the lone Blazer starter without a base hit, attempted a squeeze bunt with a runner on third. Blain, however, scooped the ball on the left hand side of the field and threw a backhand flip to catcher Tommy Johnson (Gaithersburg, Md.) to nail Merritt at the plate.
Another two-out error on a UAB line drive, this time to third baseman Josh Valle (Brentwood, N.Y.), gave the Blazers a 3-0 advantage in the fourth. J.R. Bond's liner to Valle seemed to jam the freshman before ricocheting into shallow left field. Patmon scored on the play with Bell rounding third and attempting to score, but shortstop Blake Sanders (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) threw out the UAB left fielder to end the frame.
Valle quickly made up for his error with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth and later scored on a Sanders sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to cut Marshall's deficit to 3-2.
The Herd committed another error in the top of the fifth to help UAB to another pair of runs and a 5-2 lead. Again the Herd responded in its half of the frame, plating two runners for a 5-4 UAB lead. Designated hitter Brendan Murphy (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Valle picked up an RBI apiece in the inning as Marshall sent seven hitters to the plate.
Marshall committed another error that led to a Blazer run in the top of the sixth. After reliever Adam Dobies (Pittsburgh, Pa.) walked the leadoff batter, he induced a potential double-play grounder to shortstop Sanders that the freshman botched. UAB was able to pick up a sacrifice fly by Merritt in the next at bat for a 6-4 lead.
Marshall's fifth and sixth errors of the game, in the top of the eighth inning, led to another UAB run for a 7-4 edge. Left fielder Jeff Rowley (Buffalo, N.Y.) misplayed a fly ball at the warning track to allow Sawyer to get to third base, where he would score on a bunt that Dobies threw away in his attempt to first.
The Blazers plated their lone runs of the game without the aid of Marshall errors when they scored three times in the top of the ninth to extend their lead to 10-4.
Right fielder Nate Lape (Huntington, N.Y.) picked up his third hit of the game (3-for-5) in the ninth, a double down the left field line, but it was not enough to service a Marshall rally.
Valle also picked up multiple hits for the Herd (2-for-4) and drove in a pair of runs.
Blain (4-3) picked up the loss after a five-inning, nine-hit effort with only one earned run. UAB's Brandon Wallace (2-3) earned the win after 5 2/3 of relief, with five hits and two earned runs.
Marshall and UAB will play the second game of the three-game set on Saturday at 12 noon ET.
