April 26, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Marshall University's Tommy Johnson and Victor Gomez blasted grand slams in consecutive innings and Nate Lape went deep for the 12th time this season to help pace the Thundering Herd to a 10-9 victory over UAB in Saturday afternoon's Conference USA baseball game at Jerry D. Young Memorial Field.

With the win, Marshall improves to 21-21-1 on the season, 8-8-1 in C-USA play, while UAB slips to 19-23 overall, 4-10 in conference action.

Leading 9-6, Lape drilled his 12th home run of the season to deep left field, and first since April 1 when he hit three against Dayton, to give Marshall a 10-6 lead in the ninth. The blast proved to be the winning run as UAB rallied in the ninth.

Down 10-6, UAB rallied for three runs when Luke Stewart blasted a two-out three-run home run to right field to bring the Blazers to within one at 10-9 in the bottom of the ninth. Herd reliever Arik Sikula (who entered at the beginning of the ninth) forced a fly out to right field to end the game.

Herd starter Steve Blevins (6-2) earned the win as he scattered six hits over seven innings and struck out four batters en route to his sixth win of the season while Blazers' starter Mitch Kloskowski (5-4) suffered the loss.

UAB loaded the bases in the bottom of the second with a hit a walk and a hit batter, but Blevins hurled two strikeouts and used a ground out to third to retire the next three batters without allowing a run to score.

Marshall made some noise in the top of the third when Ben Jurevicius singled into center and advanced to third on a single by Brandon Casamassima to right center, extending his hitting streak to seven games. The Herd then executed a brilliant double-steal as Casamassima soared into second base allowing Jurevicius to scamper home with the first run of the game. Casamassima then moved to third on a balk before Josh Valle drew a two-out walk to place runners on the corners before Kloskowski issued his second strikeout of the game to strand the runners and hold the score to 1-0.

UAB packed the bases again in the bottom of the fourth with no-outs and Blevins again struck out the fourth batter of the inning. Kevin Cope then drove a pitch into the left field corner for a bases clearing double to give the Blazers a 3-1 lead. Blevins got the next two batters to ground out to keep the UAB lead at 3-1.

The Blazers added a run in the bottom of the fifth when Phil Bell sent a flare into right field and advanced to third via a passed ball and a wild pitch. A sacrifice fly by Cody McMurry increased the lead to 4-1.

Marshall answered in the top of the sixth with a towering grand slam to deep left field from Johnson. The shot was his seventh home run of the year and it gave the Herd a 5-4 advantage in the contest. The grand slam was the second of the season for Marshall, the first came from Valle, March 18 in game one of a doubleheader against Kent State.

UAB struck right back with a solo blast from Billy Lichtner to knot the game at 5-5 with one out in the home-half of the sixth, but Blevins retired the next two batters to preserve the stalemate.

Jurevicius led off with his third hit of the game, an infield single to the left side and advanced to second on a single by Adam Yeager to get things going in the Marshall seventh. Casmassima attempted to move the runners into scoring position but a nice play by Kloskowski to get the lead runner spared the Blazers a runner at third. Following a Kloskowski strikeout, another perfectly executed double-steal put runners in scoring position. Lape earned an intentional walk to jam the bases once again for Gomez who crushed a first-pitch fastball to right field for the second grand slam of the game, giving the Herd a 9-5 lead.

Kloskowski left the game following the seventh after allowing nine runs on 10 hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

Leading 9-5 in the eighth, Marshall received a lead off double from Jeff Rowley off reliever Brandon Wallace. Blake Sanders then moved Rowley to third with a sacrifice bunt before a strikeout and a fly out ended the threat.

Herd reliever Ian Kadish entered in the eighth in relief of Blevins and gave up a lead off single in the eighth stanza. Stewart tried to stretch a single into a double but was thrown out by Jurevicius from right field. Yeager capped off the play by applying a nice tag. A one-out walk placed runners on the corners before a sacrifice fly to left cut the UAB deficit to 9-6. A two-out single put runners on first and second but a groundout to third halted the rally.

Marshall and UAB will play the series finale Sunday, April 27 with first-pitch slated for 2:00 p.m. ET. The Herd will send Dan Straily (3-2) to the hill while the Blazers will throw Kyle Roberson (4-4).