May 16, 2007

Game Notes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB Blazers conclude their regular season at home this week against the East Carolina Pirates at Young Memorial Field in a three-game series that gets underway Thursday at 7 p.m. UAB (23-30, 10-11 C-USA) has locked up at least a sixth place finish in the Conference USA standings, while ECU (35-18, 13-7 C-USA) is trying to hold on to second place entering the C-USA Tournament to be played at ECU, May 23-27.

Due to the Conference USA Tournament beginning next Wednesday, this week's C-USA series will be played Thursday through Saturday rather than the usual Friday through Sunday.

Thursday night will be `Faculty and Staff Night' with adults receiving $1 admission by showing a valid faculty ID. All kids 12-under will receive free admission.

Game two of the series will be Friday night at 7 p.m. with the final game to be played Saturday at 1 p.m. Saturday will be `Senior Day' as UAB's eight seniors will be playing their final game at Young Memorial Field.

East Carolina leads the all-time series between the two programs, 11-1, with UAB's only win coming in 2003. Since that Blazer victory, the Pirates have won the last seven meetings.

UAB's guaranteed sixth place finish or better marks the highest finish for the club since 1998 when it placed fourth. The Blazers will have the opportunity to accomplish another historical feat this weekend as they are just one win away from capturing the program's 800th victory. The program is 799-750-1 all-time.

This weekend will be the final home games for UAB's eight seniors - Grant Addison, J.R. Bond, Kasey Croft, Ryne Lovdahl, Levi Patmon, Danny Sawyer, Steven Turner and Zac Ward.

Addison earned a complete game victory last Sunday at Marshall and has a 2.76 ERA this season. Bond has a club-best batting average of .362 to go with 43 RBI and a league-best five triples. Croft has put together several strong outings out of the bullpen, earning two victories and one save.

Lovdahl is batting .328 and for the second straight year is leading the team in home runs with five. Patmon is batting .309 with 20 RBI having struck out a team-low 23 times, while Sawyer is batting .298 and, for the second year in-a-row, leads the club in doubles with 16.

Turner is second on the team with 13 stolen bases to go along with three homers and 16 RBI. Ward has been sidelined all season due to injury, however made an enormous impact in the three years he played at UAB. Ward leaves UAB with the 10th-highest career RBI total in school history (118) and is seventh in career at bats (667). Ward hit nearly 20 homers in his three years with the Blazers.

UAB has depended on its strong senior class this season but has also got a great deal of contribution from some of its younger players.

Junior first baseman Ryan Keedy has had a hot bat as of late and is this week's C-USA Co-Hitter of the Week. Keedy is batting .341 for the year with four home runs and 31 RBI. Junior outfielder Phil Bell holds a .330 batting average to go along with 34 RBI and 14 stolen bases.

East Carolina enters this weekend looking to bounce back from a midweek loss to Elon. Last weekend, the Pirates swept UCF to catapult themselves to second in the league standings.

The Pirates have hit 60 home runs as a team this season compared to UAB's 23. Outfielder Ryan Tousley leads the club with 10 home runs and also tops the team with 48 RBI. Seven Pirates have hit five home runs or more on the year.

Shortstop Dale Mollenhauer has club-best .329 batting average to go with 26 RBI and 11 doubles.

Opponents have managed to hit just .256 against ECU, which has a team ERA of 3.81. Right-hander T.J. Hose leads the staff in wins with six to go along with his leading 63 strikeouts. Right-hander Josh Dowdy holds the lowest ERA of the starting rotation at 2.81.

Fans can follow all three games live on Gametracker at UABsports.com and can watch live video of the games through the site's All-Access section.