University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Baseball Downs UAB In Game One of Series, 6-3
4/25/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Downs UAB In Game One of Series, 6-3
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southern Miss scored a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to take a come-from-behind 6-3 win over the University of Alabama-Birmingham Friday, at Pete Taylor Park. With the win, the Golden Eagles, ranked No. 21 in the Baseball America Poll, improved to 32-11 overall and 15-4 in Conference USA play. UAB fell to 21-18 overall and 6-12 in the conference.
?We won another low-scoring game and that was a good thing,? Southern Miss coach Corky Palmer said. ?We looked a little lethargic early, but we fought through that. It was just good to get out with a win.?
Bob McCrory (7-2) picked up the win after allowing three runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts in seven innings of work. Brad Willcutt, Clint King and Jason Lowery all led Southern Miss with two hits, while King had a team-high three RBIs.
After a scoreless first inning, UAB got things rolling with a single run in the second.
The Blazersreeled off three straight singles with two outs, the final one scoring Matt Womble. UAB tacked on another run in the third, taking advantage of Kyle Leon?s solo home run to left center, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.
Southern Miss cut into the lead, getting on the board with a run in the bottom of the frame. Beau Griffin and Matt Shepherd led off with consecutive singles. The runners advanced on Carlos Velasquez?s sacrifice bunt, and Griffin scored on Jeff Cook?s groundout.
One inning later, King blasted a first-pitch, solo home run to center field, knotting the score 2-2. The Golden Eagles threatened to do more damage, but could not capitalize after having the bases loaded with one out.
The Blazers immediately got the run back however. Sam Clark singled with one out and moved to second on Mitch Jones? sacrifice bunt. Drew Goneke then singled him home with a blooper to center field for the 3-2 score.
The volley continued, only this time, Southern Miss plated two runs on Willcutt?s double to center field. The Golden Eagles continued the scoring in the bottom of the sixth, adding two runs on a double by King to take a 6-3 lead.
That would be all the two teams would score over the final three innings of play, as both pitching staffs came up with the stops when needed.
UAB threatened in both the seventh and eighth innings, but could not get past the Golden Eagle hurlers. With the bases loaded in the seventh, McCrory came up with a big strikeout for the final out. And with two runners on in the eighth, reliever Ray Antonelli fanned the final batter on five pitches to stop the threat once again. In the ninth, it was the defense?s turn to step up, as Cook laid out and snagged a sure single to close the door.
Cook extended his team-high hitting streak to 15 games with his single in the fifth, and King pushed his streak to 11 games. Tubb picked up his sixth save of the season, retiring the final batter of the game. Antonelli threw 1.2 innings, giving up just one hit.
Womble led UAB with two hits. Lucas Trotter (3-3) took the loss after giving up 10 hits for four runs in four innings of work. Jeff Brown pitched the final four innings, giving up two unearned runs on just one hit.
The second game of the weekend series is slated for 4 p.m., Saturday.
