May 17, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB baseball team closed out its 2008 regular season with a 12-2 seven-inning victory over 27th-ranked Southern Miss at Young Memorial Field Saturday afternoon. The win gives UAB a 2-1 series victory over the Golden Eagles. First baseman Ryan Keedy was 4-for-5 with three RBI to end the regular season with a C-USA-leading .429 batting average.

UAB ends the regular season with a record of 23-32 (6-17 C-USA) and earns the eighth seed at next week's 2008 Entergy Conference USA Championship in New Orleans. Southern Miss is now 38-17 (15-8 C-USA) and will enter next week's C-USA Championship as the second overall seed.

"We are swinging really good - we won by a 10-run rule last Sunday too," said UAB head coach Brian Shoop. "We pitched well all weekend and I'm happy for the three seniors who got to throw today. We'll have to play very good against Rice, they are the fifth-ranked team in the country and will host a regional so we'll have to play very well."

Johnny Volk (2-0) earned the win on the mound after being the designated starter in the game. Volk threw 3.0 innings and allowed just one run on one hit. Paul Jones, Dustin Colburn, Rodney Wodson and Robert Brewster all had a hand in giving up just two runs on the mound.

Brian Leach (2-2) got the loss after he gave up six runs in 4.1 innings.

In addition to his three hits, Keedy scored three runs and hit his school record 27th double of the season.

"I felt really confident coming in," Keedy said. "We're very excited to be in the tournament and we have Rice on Wednesday. They are a great team and have a lot of tradition but we're playing confident so we feel pretty good heading into the tournament."

Shortstop Jonathan Merritt was also 4-for-5 with four runs scored in the game to mark his fifth four-hit game of the season. Third baseman Luke Stewart was 3-for-3 with two RBI and right fielder Brint Hardy was 2-for-3 with four RBI.

Five UAB pitchers combined to hold Southern Miss to just six hits in the game.

UAB got out to a 2-0 lead in the first as Merritt doubled to lead off the inning and then scored on a wild pitch. Keedy scored the second run of the inning, singling to reach base and then coming home on a single through the right side by Stewart.

Both teams scored one run in the third to make it 3-1 and then in the fifth, UAB got two more runs home as Keedy lined his 27th double of the season to right-center field to score Merritt and second baseman Nick Crawford to take a 5-1 lead.

The Blazers got four more runs in the sixth thanks to a pair of RBI-walks issued by the Golden Eagles. Hardy also delivered a two-run single in the inning to give the Blazers a 10-2 advantage.

Two final runs in the seventh closed out the game as Keedy hit an RBI-single to left field and then center fielder Cody McMurry hit a sacrifice fly to right field to seal the 12-2 triumph.

UAB will now travel to New Orleans to compete in the 2008 Entergy Conference USA Championship. The team's opening round game will be on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. against top-seeded Rice. The complete C-USA Championship bracket will be released Saturday evening.