Alabama Baseball Shut Out By UAB, 8-0

Alabama baseball was blanked by UAB, 8-0, on Tuesday evening at Regions Field. The shutout loss was the Crimson Tide’s first of the season and moves the team’s overall record to 13-7.

"Credit UAB, they played extremely well,” said Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard. “They pitched well and swung the bats well. Really on our end, it's the second Tuesday in a row that I thought we put together a pretty poor performance on our side. We didn't have good energy, came out flat and they jumped on us in a hurry. We didn't show a lot of fight tonight, unlike what we did this weekend, so it was a disappointing night tonight."

The Blazers registered 12 hits, including four doubles, and kicked off the scoring with a four-run second inning. UAB added single tallies in the third and fourth innings and added a final pair of runs in the seventh frame.

A total of five pitchers were used by Alabama, with starter Mike Oczypok (2-2) suffering the loss. Oczypok worked 2.2 innings and allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits with four strikeouts. Tyler McMurray and Colton Freeman each made their first appearances of the 2016 season and were joined by Brock Love and Dylan Duarte out of the bullpen.

UAB reliever Kyle Davis (1-0) earned his first win of the season thanks to 2.0 scoreless innings pitched with one hit allowed and one strikeout. Blazer starter Andrew Lamar 3.0 innings, limiting the Tide to only two hits and one walk with a strikeout in the effort.

“This team is very capable,” Gaspard added. “We just have to stay with it. It’s a disappointing night, but this team will bounce back. They will be ready to go this weekend.”

The Crimson Tide will next welcome Tennessee to Sewell-Thomas Stadium for a three-game weekend series with the Volunteers. The first game of the series is set for a 7 p.m. CT first pitch on SECN+. Saturday and Sunday’s game will both on SEC Network, with the middle game scheduled to start at 8 p.m. CT and the finale set to start at 3 p.m.

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