Matt Singleton highlighted a career weekend with a grand slam in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday.
Singleton hit two game-winning home runs over the weekend. He belted a two-run home run on Friday in the eighth inning that eventually gave the Cardinals a 7-6 victory over Alabama-Birmingham. His second career game-winner came on a grand slam in the seventh inning on Saturday to give the Cardinals an 11-10 win and a three-game sweep against the Blazers. The grand slam was his only hit of the game, but he finished 5-for-12 for the weekend, with six RBI.
"We feel pretty good about going in and taking all three games on the road from a pretty darn good ball club in UAB," coach Greg Beals said.
Last week, Beals said Singleton spent time watching videotape of his at-bats from last weekend against Middle Tennessee State and spent some time in the batters box.
"He was able to put it all together and had a great weekend," Beals said.
In the seventh inning, Marc Franz hit a double to right field and advanced to third on Kyle Dygert's ground out to second base. Two batters later, C.J. Webb advanced to first after being hit by a pitch, and Justin Rogers walked, setting up Singleton's grand slam.
The Cardinals (4-1) took control of game one by scoring five runs in the first three innings. Alabama-Birmingham responded with four runs in the bottom of the third and added a run in the sixth and seventh inning to take a 6-5 lead. Brad Miller finished with two hits, two RBI and was walked three times for the Cardinals. He finished the weekend with an impressive 7-for-10 in the batters box with five RBI.
Starting pitchers Joe Ness and Ben Snyder combined to allow eight runs on just nine hits in the first two games of the series, but Ryan DeGeeter allowed 10 runs on nine hits in less than three innings in game three. With DeGeeter's struggles in the early going, the Cardinals had to quickly go to their bullpen. Coach Beals said the bullpen arguably was the best part of the weekend.
"If you had to pinpoint the reason for our success this weekend, it probably would be our bullpen more-so than our hitting," Beals said. "We did set the tempo with our bats, but those guys came out of the bullpen and sealed the game."
Game two was a seesaw battle that saw the lead being exchanged four times and tied once. Ball State jumped out to a 3-2 lead before UAB scored two runs on two hits in the third inning. The Cardinals re-took the lead the following inning when Singleton and Chris Pestle scored on a two-run double by Miller. The Blazers responded in the eighth with a run, but Ball State scored two runs in the ninth to grab the win.
Alabama-Birmingham was blowing out the Cardinals, 9-1 in game three heading into the third inning when Ball State responded with four runs. Jason Bucholtz scored on Dygert's single to right field, and two batters later, Miller scored after Webb walked with the bases loaded. Rogers drove in two more runners scoring Dygert and Franz. After allowing a run in the bottom of the inning, the Cardinals immediately responded with two runs the following inning.
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
