UAB Drops American Conference Tournament Opener to MEmphis

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - May 21, 2026

UAB opened play in the American Conference Baseball Tournament with a 7-3 loss to Memphis at BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater, Fla.

“Just played bad baseball,” UAB head coach Casey Dunn said after his No. 2 seeded team lost to the fifth seeded Tigers. “They played a better game than we played. It's pretty simple. I didn't think we swung the bats well. We knew coming in we were gonna have to score some runs to win. I didn't think we did a very good job offensively, you know, throughout the game. And then, obviously the errors and the mistakes defensively cost us.”

UAB started well at the plate with Brady Waugh’s first inning single scoring Kevin Hall Jr. and Landon Beaver and the Blazers added another run in the fourth inning on a RBI double by Andrew Hunt. The Blazers had seven hits through the first four innings but didn’t record another hit until Wesley Helms’ bloop single into shallow left field with two outs in the ninth innings. Memphis David Case settled in and shut UAB down in the middle innings and kept it up until leaving after the eighth inning. Case struck out five and walked three while allowing three earned runs. Earlier this season, Case allowed 11 hits and six earned runs against UAB.

Even with the dormant offense, the Blazers could have been in better position down the stretch if the defense didn’t play its worst game of the season. UAB had not committed more than three error in a game this season and had five errors for the first time since April 4, 2021. Thursday’s errors to four unearned runs. Three of those unearned runs came in the seventh inning, allowing the Tigers to turn a precarious one-run advantage into a 7-3 lead.

Take away the defensive blunders and a pair of third inning Memphis home runs and the pitching from UAB starter Brendan Conner and Chase Ingram was solid. But the Blazers move forward needing a win on Friday to extend the season. The Blazers (31-25) will play the winner of Friday morning’s winner’s bracket game between No. 2 seed East Carolina and No. 3 seed Rice. The elimination game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

“We've been a resilient team and now it’s the epitome of our backs against our wall,” Dunn said. “We've got to fight back. Hopefully, Mason (Steele) can go for us tomorrow, which is a guy that we believe in. If he can go out there and start for us, I think he'll give us a fighting chance.”