UAB vs Houston, The Baseball Weekend

This past weekend I had the opportunity to do something I have not done in a few years. Attend all three games of a college baseball series. If you have read my post in the past you should know that I am a huge college baseball fan, and attend games as often as I can. So the following will be my weekend recap of the series.

Friday April 27
On Friday night the game got off to a quick start as the Houston Cougars took an early lead when designated hitter Jonathan Davis doubled to left center to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. UAB starting pitcher Dylan Munger would load the bases up with a walk and a hit batter before recording his third strikeout to end the inning. UAB would start the inning off with three consecutive singles cutting the lead in half when Jeff Schalk singled scoring Ryan Prinzing. UAB would tie the game up three batters later when Ryan Ussery would ground into a fielder’s choice  to end the first inning tied 2-2.
Neither team would score in the second inning, but in the top of the third Houston would retake the lead when they would start the inning with three straight singles of their own to take a 3-2 lead on the single by Jacob Lueneburg. Houston would add another run when Michael Pyeatt singled with 2 outs before Munger would end the inning with his sixth strike out of the game.
In the top of the 4th inning Houston would chase Munger from the game when Jake Runte would reach on an error to lead off the inning. The pitching change would not benefit UAB as Chase Jensen would double to left field to greet new pitcher Alex Luna. After a strike out by Codey Morehouse, Jonathan Davis would get his third RBI of the game when he would single up the middle scoring Runte. Jacob Lueneburg would deliver the big blow of the inning with a two run home run to right field giving the Cougars an 8-2 lead.  UAB would add a run in the bottom of the inning when Ryan Ussery would triple with one out and then score on a ground out.
UAB would cut the lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the 6th inning when Ussery would score on a sacrifice fly from pinch hitter Ivan DeJesus.
In the bottom of the 7th Houston would take out starting pitcher Austin Pruitt to start the inning but that would turn out to be a decision regretted as the Blazers hitters would take a liking to the new pitcher. John Frost, Jeff Schalk and Patrick Palmerio would all single to start the inning before relief pitcher Chase Wellbrock would strike out pinch hitter Michael Busby for the first out of the inning. For the third time in four innings Ryan Ussery reached base, this time with a 2 run single to left field to cut the Cougar lead to 8-6. A sacrifice bunt and walk would knock Wellbrock out of the game but the change in pitchers would not slow the Blazers down. The Cougars would bring in closing pitcher Mo Wiley to try and end the Blazer rally, but the Blazers had other ideas. Ivan DeJesus would reach on an error by the shortstop allowing the Blazers to score two more runs in the inning to tie the game at 8-8. Ryan Prinzing would give the Blazers the lead with his third hit of the game scoring Harry Clark who had walked earlier in the inning. Wiley would finally end the Blazer rally by striking out John Frost to end the inning.
In the top of the eighth inning the Blazers would bring in closer Ryan Nance to try and hold their new one run lead, but the Cougars had other plans. Jonathan Davis would get his fourth hit of the game with one out driving in Chase Jensen who had walked to lead off the inning. Nance would prevent the Cougars from retaking the lead with a strike out of pinch hitter Casey Grayson and getting a ground out from Michael Pyeatt to end the inning. The Blazers would retake the lead in the bottom of the eighth when with two outs Tanner Bryant would hit a pop out in front of home, but in one of the strangest things I have ever seen the pop up was dropped by Mo Wiley allowing Tyler Mims and Patrick Palmerio to score giving the Blazers an 11-9 lead. Bryant would be thrown out stealing for the final out of the inning.
In the top of the ninth inning Ryan Nance took care of business getting the Cougars out in order to give the series opening win to the UAB Blazers by a final score of 11-9.

Saturday April 28
Game two of the weekend wouldn’t be as crazy as the first game, but still as high scoring. The UAB Blazers jumped out to an 8-0 lead after 3 innings highlighted by a two run home run from Jeff Schalk in the first, a two run double by John Frost in the second and RBI doubles from Jacob German and Keith DePew and a RBI single from Ryan Prinzing in the third inning. As we saw in the Friday night game the game is never over till the last out is recorded. Houston would score a single run in the top of the 6th inning on an error from the Blazers second baseman. Another run in the 7th on an RBI single from Houston’s Landon Appling and 4 more runs in the 8th off a 3 run double from John Cannon and a RBI single from Taylor White. The Blazers would respond in the bottom of the 8th with 4 runs of their own. Jeff Schalk and Patrick Palmerio would score on wild pitches and pinch hitter Matt Morse and Keith DePew would have RBI singles in the inning. The Cougars were not going to go quietly as with two outs in the inning the Cougars would score twice off an RBI double from Jacob Lueneburg and an RBI single from John Cannon. Blazers reliever Chase Mallard would strike out Zach Gibson looking to end the ballgame giving the Blazers the win by a score of 12-8.

Sunday April 29
Game three of the weekend would be about as far an opposite from the first two games of the weekend as possible. Starting pitchers Jordan Lewis of Houston and Michael Busby of UAB would keep the two teams bats in check with the only run coming in bottom of the 5th inning when Tanner Bryant would lead the inning off with a triple then scoring one batter later on a RBI ground out from Jacob German.  The only similarities two the first two games this one would show would be in the later innings. Houston would lead off the 8th inning with a single from Taylor White but he wouldn’t make it past second base. In the top of the 9th Houston would try one more time as a two out walk to pinch hitter Casey Grayson and a single from Zack Gibson would put the tying and go ahead runs on base for the Cougars. Michael Busby however would not give up the lead as he was able to get Cory Kay to fly out deep to left field to end the ballgame giving the Blazers a 1-0 win and series sweep over the Houston Cougars.
As I have done in the past when writing about baseball I believe in giving the respect that is due to the players who had great games and or weekends. My players of the series are as followed;
Houston Cougars
Jonathan Davis: Davis hit .429 with 6 hits, 4 runs and 3 RBI’s.
Jacob Lueneburg:  Lueneburg hit .364 with 4 hits, 4 RBI’s, 3 runs and a home run.
Landon Appling: Appling hit .357 with 5 hits, 1 run scored and 1 RBI.

UAB Blazers
Ryan Prinzing: Prinzing hit .556 with 5 hits, 2 runs and 2 RBI’s.
Jeff Schalk: Schalk hit .417 with 5 hits, 3 runs, 3 RBI’s and a home run.
Ivan DeJesus: DeJesus hit .400 with 4 hits, 1 RBI, and a run scored.
Michael Busby: Busby threw 9 innings no runs, 5 hits, 5 strikes outs and 1 walk.

Where Were You

The above pictures are from the evening and next day after the April 27 tornado that from McDonald's Chapel.

As we approach the one year anniversary of the April 27 tornadoes I am sure the question will be asked where were you when it happened. I was sound asleep in Birmingham, Alabama doing what I do best on my off days. For a reason unknown to me at the time I suddenly woke up from my nap around 5PM and was informed by my mother that we were under a tornado warning. Well my first instinct was to turn on the television and watch the weather. About the time that I turned the TV on I saw the first images of the F-4 tornado as it was cutting its path through the City of Tuscaloosa, I was in awe. I have always been a weather junkie especially when it comes to tornadoes. There has always been something about them that has amazed me. However watching that tornado destroy areas that I knew put a fear in my body never before done by a tornado. Little did I know that the same tornado that I was watching destroy Tuscaloosa would hit another area I knew very well in Western Jefferson County in less than an hour. I had spent the last 6 month working for a pizza company in Hueytown, Alabama. Our delivery area consisted of Hueytown, Concord, & Pleasant Grove, Alabama. Well if you were watching you know that, the communities of Concord and Pleasant Grove both took direct hits from this tornado as it had continued to cut its path of destruction across this state. Less than 10 minutes after it hit there, it hit an area I once lived and spent the good majority of my life living in McDonald’s Chapel. I was living in McDonald’s Chapel in 1998 when an F-5 tornado for all intents and purposed completely destroyed half of the community and shattered many lives in the process. Well this time this tornado decided it wanted to hit the other side of the community cutting a path straight through the middle of McDonald’s Chapel on its way to hitting Pratt City, Alabama. As I am still watching this news coverage of the tornado they mention that it was headed for the Birmingham Airport area which is where I currently live. I then started to get scared. Fortunately by God’s grace it took a slight turn and missed this area. Once we were given the all clear, I left for McDonald’s Chapel to see if anything I knew was still standing. It missed our house by less than a quarter of a mile but did level the houses of many people I knew.
I know my story doesn’t compare to the others who lost everything including loved ones on April 27, 2011 but I felt that I should tell it any way so I can answer, where were you?
Till Next Time….

Can't Smoke Here

How many of you remember the scene from the movie Forrest Gump where young Forrest was looking for a seat on the school bus and the kid told him can’t sit here? Well it seems to me the smokers of Birmingham are getting treated like Forrest did then.

This past Tuesday the Birmingham City Council passed a city wide ban on smoking. The reasoning behind the ban is an attempt to discourage people from smoking. Also Troy University and Auburn University passed smoking bans with Troy being the most restrictive by making it a campus wide ban. That means no smoking indoors, outdoors, anywhere on the campus of Troy. Auburn Universities isn’t as bad, it is just 25 feet away from any building, which if you have ever been on that campus is gonna be a really small area. I personally do not smoke, do not like the smell of cigarette smoke, and really don’t see the point of it to begin with. If you are of legal age to smoke, then it is your choice on if you want to smoke or not. It is also the choice of a business owner on if they chose to allow smoking in their establishment or not. The ban passed by the city of Birmingham will place a 7 foot perimeter around building entrances that will be considered no smoking areas along with the inside of the building. You will also not be allowed to smoke in hotel rooms, public parking decks, restaurants and almost all bars. While I do like the fact that being a non-smoker I will not be subjected to the smell of cigarette smoke when I go to eat, I do not agree with a city wide ban. Recently I had someone say to that if you would have had a family member die because of cigarettes I would feel different. I informed them I did have a family member die from diabetes, but I am not against sugar and sweets. This treating of smokers like second class citizens is a joke in my opinion. The city of Birmingham would not turn down the money they receive from the state cigarette tax, so why try to snuff out the people willing to pay that tax. Allow the people who own the businesses and properties to decide if a person can smoke there; it is not for the government to decide the rights of a legal citizen to do something legally. Until next time….