March 11, 2006 - UAB 12 Rider 6
March 11, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
College Baseball
University of Alabama-Birmingham 12, Rider University 6
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA—The Broncs scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie the score at 6-6, but it wasn’t enough to defeat UAB Saturday. “Give me a 6-6 game in the eighth inning against a team like UAB, I’ll take that any day,” said Rider head coach Barry Davis.
Rider senior Tom Letizia (Fair Lawn, N.J./Fair Lawn) had four of Rider’s 14 hits, including an RBI double in the third inning to cut the lead to 2-1.
Freshman catcher Sean Olson (Vineland, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) had three hits for the Broncs (0-9), including a double and a two-run home run in the eighth inning. “Olson had a great day,” said Davis. “His double hit the top of the fence in centerfield, 400 feet, and he threw two guys out trying to steal.”
Junior Scott Knazek (Browns Mills, N.J./Pemberton) hit a two-run home run to give Rider a 4-3 lead in the fifth inning.
UAB (11-4) scored six runs in the eighth inning on seven hits, and had 20 hits in the game off of four Rider pitchers. “We competed well for seven innings,” said Davis. “UAB is a good team. To bounce back after not playing well last night showed me something today.”
Freshman Mike Petrowski (Hamilton Square, N.J./Steinert) pitched one and one-third innings relief without allowing a run. “Pet did fine,” said Davis, “We probably should have left him in longer.”
Freshmen Jamie Hayes (Sunrise, Fla./Piper) and Adam Tussey (Brooklawn, N.J./Gloucester) each had two hits, and freshman Nate Kline (Harrisonburg, Va./Harrisonburg) also singled. “We had five freshmen in the line up today and they all contributed,” Davis said. “Five rookies in the line up and we went toe-to-toe with a very strong UAB team for eight innings”
Rider plays the third and final game of the series on Sunday. “The last two games the score was not indicative of the games,” said Davis. “Both games it was just one bad inning. If we can play without having that one bad inning we’ll get in the win column.”
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