Trojans Battle Back To Down UAB 8-4

Wednesday, April 14

Birmingham, Ala.

6:30 pm

Troy University

UAB

4/15/2010 3:00:00 AM | Baseball

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Through five innings Wednesday night, the Troy Trojans had done nothing against UAB starting pitcher Benji Waite.

No hits, no hard hit balls, nothing.

When Waite was lifted following the fifth inning, the Trojans immediately went to work against the UAB bullpen, banging out 11 hits over the last four innings to take an 8-4 victory and split the mid-week series.

“UAB has a good club and they have been very successful in midweek games,” Trojans coach Bobby Pierce said. “We got shutout through five innings but came back and got some runs on the board. I am very proud of this team for getting a road win after the loss last night.”

With the victory, the Trojans move back over the .500 mark for the season at 17-16. UAB falls to 20-12 on the year. It was the Blazers' first mid-week loss since the opening game of the year. They had won eight straight.

After three hitless innings, the Blazers finally broke out in the fourth against Troy reliever Thomas Austin (3-0), but UAB did anything but knock the cover off the ball. John Frost led off the inning with a swinging bunt that Chase Whitley was unable to pick cleanly and Luke Stewart followed with a chopper over the head of Ryan Ditthardt at first into right.

After Austin retired the next two Blazers, catcher Jacob German hit a ground ball to Whitley's right that took a bad hop and bounced into foul ground, allowing both Frost and Stewart to score for a 2-0 UAB lead.

UAB starter Benji Waite worked five no-hit innings for the Blazers, but the Trojans went to work as soon as he left the game.

Against reliever Colin McMurray (0-1), Todd McRae opened the sixth with a single up the middle. After Chad Watson popped to short, Steven Felix drew a walk before Whitley singled to left, loading the bases.

Austin worked 2.1 innings of relief, the second of five Troy hurlers, to get the win. He allowed two runs on four hits and struck out three. He was followed by Tyler Ray, Drew Hull and Whitley to close the game.

“Thomas pitched well,” Pierce said. “He had good life on his fast ball with some sink. They did a good job of fouling off some good pitches, but he battled.”

Ditthardt knotted the game at 2-2 when he doubled down the line in right and Miles Hoyle followed with a ground ball to short, scoring Whitley with the go-ahead run.

Troy added a run in the seventh on an RBI single by Felix, plating Shohei Fujita who had reached on a bunt. The Trojans had a chance to add another run, but Felix got picked off first before Whitley flied out to deep right, leaving Chad Watson stranded at third.

The Trojans added some insurance in the eighth inning, scoring three times to push the Troy lead to 7-2. RBI singles by T.J. Rivera and Fujita preceded a bases-loaded walk to Watson. Troy missed a chance to add more when Felix and Whitley both struck out with the bases still loaded.

“We have had a hard time getting good at bats,” Pierce said. “Maybe this is the beginning of a surge for this team. Hopefully last night was the bottom and tonight was a start back. That is just part of baseball and you just have to keep going.”

UAB got an unearned run in the home half of the eighth, taking advantage of an error in left by Watson.

Both teams added single runs in the ninth inning. Ditthardt opened for Troy with his second double of the night and scored on a single by Rivera. Jonathan Merritt opened with a double for UAB and scored on a single by Luke Stewart.

Ditthardt, Rivera and Fujita had two hits each for Troy while Merritt and Stewart had two hits for UAB.

The Trojans will be back in action this weekend at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy when they host defending Sun Belt Conference champion Middle Tennessee in a three-game series. Friday and Saturday's games are scheduled for a 6 p.m. start. Sunday's series finale will start at 1 p.m.

“It is a big series against the team that was picked to win our league,” Pierce said of the Blue Raiders. “They have not been great yet, but solid. It is a huge weekend for us and is the final weekend of the first half of conference play.”