Baseball Tops UAB, 13-5, to Earn Second Win of Season

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A grand slam by catcher Rich Russell (Toronto, Ont.) led the Herd to a 13-5 win over the UAB Blazers Sunday afternoon at Young Memorial Field.

With the win, the Herd improves its mark to 2-7 and ends the seven game win streak of the Blazers.

The Herd got off to a quick start in the first inning. Junior Chris Monaco (Tucson, AZ) led off the inning with a single, extending his hit streak to six. After reaching base, Monaco was picked off by UAB pitcher Jeff Brown to record the first out. Second baseman Marshall Murray (Walnut Creek, CA) was up next and hit another single to reach base, but the run by the Herd ended when Blazer shortstop Seth Rollin made a great play on a ball hit by Adam Frederick (Franklin, PA). Rollin made a leaping catch to get Frederick out and threw to first to get Murray out to record the inning-ending double play.

After a scoreless second inning, the Herd opened things up in the top of the third. Catcher Rich Russell (Toronto, Ont.) continued his recent hot hitting, leading off the inning with a single. Senior Mike Koitsopoulos (Markham, Ont.) followed that up with another single to put men on first and second with no outs. That brought up Monaco who hit his second single of the day to bring in Russell and give the Herd a 1-0 lead. That left two on with no outs, but Jeff Brown was able to sit the next three down to retire the side.

In the bottom of the third, the Blazers came back. With one out, UAB third baseman Zac Ward hit a double to right and advanced to third on a ground out by Sam Clark. With two outs, Blazer Josh Miljavac hit a single to bring in Ward to tie the game. Herd starter Grant Harper (Grayson, KY) got catcher Eugene Rodriguez to pop up to end the inning.

Marshall responded in the top of the fourth, regaining the lead. Francois Larmore (Magnolia, NJ) led the inning off with a single. Roddy Stieger (Westchester, OH) was hit by a pitch to reach base and two batters later, Rich Russell was walked to load the bases with one out. MU took the lead when Jeff Brown hit Mike Koitsopoulos to bring in the second run of the day for Marshall. That kept the bases loaded with one out, but Chris Monaco hit into a double play to end the inning.

UAB tied the game back up in the bottom of the fourth when UAB DH Nathan McCorkle was issued a walk to reach base and proceeded to steal second. With two outs, Blazer Cole Helms hit a double to right-center field to bring in McCorkle to tie the game at 2-2.

After UAB tied the game the second time, the Herd responded in a big way. Marshall Murray hit his second single of the day to reach with no outs. After Adam Frederick walked, Corie O