BIRMINGHAM – The UAB baseball team picked up its first win of the 2020 season in a 10-7 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday. The series tying-win was polar opposite of game one as the Blazers used their bats to take down the Fighting Irish for the first time in program history.
Seniors Colton Schultz and J Paul Fullerton led UAB at the plate, both hammering critical homeruns. Schultz roped the first homerun for the Blazers with a two-run shot in the bottom of the first inning to trim Notre Dame’s lead to 3-2, while Fullerton went yard for a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to break the 6 all tie and put the game out of reach. Redshirt junior Austin Stump came out with the win after tossing 1.1 innings and fanning a pair.
“I’m proud for our guys. Our offense bounced back both times they scored. That was great,” said coach Brian Shoop. “We call those strike-back innings. They got three in the first, and we bounced back with two. They got three in the seventh to tie it, and we got four in the bottom. Those are big, and shutdown innings after you score are big. Our pitchers did that on both occasions for us after we scored.”
Both squads got the bats going early as Notre Dame opened the game with back-to-back singles and later cracked a three-run homerun to get on the board first. The Blazers answered in the bottom of the frame with a pair of runs of their own. Redshirt sophomore Jess Davis led off for UAB with a single up the middle, and senior Colton Schultz belted a shot over right field to cut Fighting Irish lead to one.
After containing the Fighting Irish in the top of the second, the Blazers struck again. Redshirt junior Thomas Johns started things off and was driven home on a Justin Wiley single. Freshman Chandler Simpson, who reached on a walk, then gave UAB the lead on sophomore Pate Fullerton’s single and first hit as a Blazer. Wiley capped off the inning with a run for a 5-3 UAB lead after two straight walks moved him home.
The Blazers tacked onto their lead later in the fifth as Schultz came in to score on a precision sacrifice bunt by Fullerton after walking and advancing on a wild pitch.
Notre Dame evened things up in the top of the seventh, piecing together a double and a single before a two-run blast knotted the game at 6.
UAB responded once more in the bottom of the frame, beginning with a Pate Fullerton walk and a Zack Davis single. After junior Ian Ladner reached on an error to load the bases, J Paul Fullerton cleared the base path with his second career grand slam to give the Blazers control once again.
Notre Dame gave a final push in the ninth inning with a leadoff solo shot to trim the UAB lead to 10-7, but that would be the final tally as the Fighting Irish failed to drive in another score.
“I expected us to come out and play well today. I expected us to score,” said Shoop. “It’s a totally different wind day. Yesterday, it was going to be really hard to score. Today, it was going to be hard to pitch because the balls were going to carry today. Weather has as much to do with it as anything else. That’s the beauty of our game. I expected our guys to play well. I thought we did play well, and it was a good win.”
The rubber match between UAB and Notre Dame will begin at noon on Sunday at Young Memorial Field. Live stat and streaming information for each game is available on the UAB baseball schedule page.
Fans may secure baseball season tickets by purchasing the 2020 Gold Card for $65. The Gold Card is an exclusive offer that grants you admission into all baseball, softball and women’s basketball events for the remainder of the academic year. Mini plans and single game tickets are also available here. Contact the UAB Ticket Office at (205) 975-UAB1 for more details.
For more information on the UAB baseball team, follow @UAB_Baseball on Twitter and Instagram.
-Go Blazers-
