TROY, Alabama -- The Holy Cross baseball team dropped the opening contest of its weekend series against Alabama-Birmingham, falling by a score of 20-6 on Saturday, February 23.

STATS LEADERS:

• Ben Malgeri: 2-for-4, one run scored
• Riley Livingston: 1-for-3, two RBI
• Evan Blum: 1-for-3, two RBI

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Blazers got out to an early 3-0 lead after a two-run first and a home run by J Paul Fullerton in the second.
• Holy Cross put a run on the board in the top of the third after senior Alex Gionis led off with a double and was brought home on an RBI single from junior Riley Livingston.
• Sophomore Evan Blum had a two-RBI single in the fourth inning that brought senior Kellen McCormick and freshman Ben Malgeri home to tie the game at 3-3. The Crusaders then took a 4-3 lead on an RBI groundout from junior Chris Rinaldi, followed by a sacrifice from Livingston that scored Blum and gave the Crusaders a 5-3 lead.
• UAB answered quickly, plating eight runs in the bottom half of the fifth and adding five more in the sixth to take a 16-5 lead.
• Holy Cross got a run back in the eighth off a homer from sophomore Peter Dudunakis.
• UAB closed out the evening with four more runs in the eighth to cap the scoring on the evening.

DUE UP:

• The Crusaders and Blazers will play a doubleheader on Sunday, February 24. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET.

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