USM, UAB suspended by weather
Published 10:20 am Thursday, May 21, 2015
It was a long night for Southern Miss and UAB, and today is going to be an even longer day.
Their game in the Conference USA Tournament was suspended because of rain and lightning at the end of the seventh inning Wednesday, with UAB leading 3-0.
The game will resume today around 12:30 p.m., after Rice and Middle Tennessee State play an elimination game at 9 a.m. The UAB-Southern Miss loser will then turn around and play an elimination game against Old Dominion immediately afterward. The winner gets to rest until 7:30, when it’ll play Florida Atlantic in the winners’ bracket.
UAB and Southern Miss were scheduled to start at 7:30 Wednesday night, but a long rain delay in an earlier game pushed the start back until nearly 10 p.m.
Just after midnight, another thunderstorm rolled through the Hattiesburg area and brought a halt to the action for 32 minutes. The teams returned to the field and finished the seventh inning, but at 1:03 a.m. yet another storm passed through and the field was tarped for the night. The game was suspended for good at 1:32 a.m.
UAB took the lead with two runs in the first inning, when Adam Lau was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Tyler Mims walked with the bases loaded.
Chase Davis’ RBI single in the fourth inning extended the lead to 3-0. Davis is 4-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored in the game.
James Naile pitched 6 2/3 innings for UAB, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Southern Miss’ Cody Carroll and Jake Winston combined to strike out 12 batters throught the first seven innings. Winston struck out seven in 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
The rest of Wednesday’s C-USA tournament schedule was filled with upsets.
Top-seeded Rice lost 6-5 to Florida International, and No. 4 seed Middle Tennessee lost 9-7 to Texas-San Antonio.
J.C. Escarra homered and drove in three runs to lead Florida International to its first-ever win at the C-USA tournament.
No. 2 seed Florida Atlantic was the only higher-seeded team to win, beating Old Dominion 6-4.
Rice, which has won the last two Conference USA tournaments and six of the last 10, played the early elimination game today against Middle Tennessee.
Florida International and UTSA are scheduled to play a winners’ bracket game at approximately 5 p.m. today.