April 24, 2008

Gametracker: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Video: Friday | Saturday | Sunday

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB baseball team has won four of its last five games, including two victories against No. 19 Houston last weekend, and will look to climb the Conference USA standings this weekend when it hosts the Marshall Thundering Herd at Young Memorial Field. The series gets underway Friday at 7:00 p.m. with game two slated for Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and the finale on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

David Crane will have the call on Saturday and Sunday. Those games can be heard on Blazer All-Access at UABsports.com.

The last two series between UAB and Marshall have resulted in the road team earning a series sweep.

UAB enters the weekend with a record of 18-22 (3-9 C-USA) after beating Samford, 16-8, Wednesday night. The Blazers have been on an offensive tear as of late. At the forefront of the offense has been first baseman Ryan Keedy and left fielder Phil Bell.

Keedy leads Conference USA with his .429 batting average and 20 doubles, while Bell is second on the team with his .333 average, while leading the club in home runs (8) and RBI (46).

Third baseman Luke Stewart has emerged as an offensive threat in recent games, batting .429 with three homers and 11 RBI through the team's last five games.

James Oliver (3-2, 5.84) will start on the mound for the Blazers on Friday, while Mitch Kloskowski (5-3, 4.33) gets the nod on Saturday. Kloskowski leads the team with 43 strikeouts and ranks second in C-USA with just 13 walks issued.

Kyle Roberson (4-4, 4.32 ERA) will make his second straight Sunday start to round out the series.

Marshall comes in with a record of 20-20-1 (7-7-1 C-USA) after beating Ohio, 17-12, Wednesday night.

The Thundering Herd is led by Nate Lape who is batting .387 with 11 home runs and 43 RBI. Victor Gomez is hitting .366 for the year with seven homers.

As a team, Marshall is batting .304 this season and is 64-of-83 on stolen base attempts.

The Herd will start left-hander Andrew Blain (2-3, 4.63) on Friday, right-hander Steve Blevins (5-2, 5.08) on Saturday and right-hander Dan Straily (3-2, 5.17) on Sunday.