BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - South Alabama jumped ahead early and squeezed the Blazer offense as the Jags took the interstate matchup, 5-3.

The Jags struck first, with Will Turner raking a first pitch double, then advancing to third on an infield groundout. Micah Morgan sent him home with a sacrifice to center field. Nathan Wood hit in another run in the second with a single up the middle, but the Blazers rocked two solo home runs to even things up in the bottom of the inning. The Jags then turned their first double play of the game in the bottom of the third to end the inning. 

South responded in kind as JG Bell loosed a home run to left field after Morgan drew a walk, re-establishing the two run lead. After 3.0 innings from starter Zach Stevens, Tyler Smith took over on the mound for 2.0 innings. 

USA again put runners in scoring position in the top of the sixth. Wood layed down a bunt in a suicide squeeze that scored one, but the second runner was tagged out at home before Wood was gunned down on his attempt to get to second. UAB turned back-to-back-to-back hits to score one run themselves with no outs. A low shot to third base forced an out at the plate, then a bunt to the pitcher allowed the Jags to turn another double play.

Out of the pen, Logan Wash, Seth Carter, Zach Willingham, and Grant Wood threw 4.0 innings and only allowed two hits and two walks. Willingham, especially, faced four batters, and struck out all four faced. Grant Wood entered in the save scenario. With two runners on and one out, a ground ball bounced directly to Wood and allowed him to turn the third double play of the game and end the game.

Winning Pitcher: Tyler Smith (2-0)
Save: Grant Wood (9)
Losing Pitcher: Brooks House (1-3)

QUOTES
Head Coach Mark Calvi

On today's pitching performance: Yeah, I mean, what can I say about the pitching today, you know, four earned runs. Again, Zack Stevens, he'll tell you that it wasn't great,  but the guy ate up three innings. It didn't get sideways. And he's recovering off Tommy John('s surgery). There's so many things that he's gonna do better in six months from now, but this guy, the way he's going out there and competing and taking the ball is admirable. Our guys in behind him, I thought, Smitty (Tyler Smith) hasn't been out there in a little while. There's been some scenarios where we've gotten to some other guys. He was really good. It was good to get him back out there. He was almost untouchable until the last couple of outings. That's my fault for not having him out there. A reliever needs to be out there to keep them sharp. So Smitty hasn't been quite as sharp. That's my fault. Moving forward, I need to get him out there more because he's earned the right to be out there, but so have all the other guys. We're lucky man we, don't have two or three leverage guys that you gotta keep going to. There's five, six, seven guys that you trust and you send them out there. Smitty is one of those guys. I thought Wash, that inning was a little bit nuts. That double play that was turned was very unconventional. Willingham was nasty. I thought Smitty was really good. And they had some traffic on the bases, it's not like we you know, gave up three hits, we gave up 10 hits and and then Woody made it a little interesting and I just thought our pitching and defense, I think we turned three double plays and a big pickoff from Zack Stevens on their leadoff guy. We picked them off twice, and just great defense today pitching and defense. We got four hits. We hit another five or six on the screws. But you know, Nate Wood, two RBIs today, JG getting into one, two-run home run, and then Micah with the sac fly. You know, we scratched early and when we get ahead and when we're ahead after six, we're now 18. So that is our goal. Our goal is to get ahead of you, and then do what we did today.

UP NEXT
South Alabama continues their road trip up to Boone, North Carolina for a weekend conference series. Friday's game starts at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN+.

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