UAB Downs #20 Auburn, Continues Hot Start To Season
Photo by Ken Shepherd
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - February 25, 2025
Wesley Helms Jr. drove a baseball into the left-center field gap in the bottom of the ninth inning to score Nick Hollifield and lift UAB to a 6-5 victory over 20th-ranked Auburn on a frigid Wednesday night at Regions Field.
Helms, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound local product from Briarwood Christian, was at the plate with Nick Hollifield at second base and pinch runner Braxton Brooks at first base. Hollifield reached on a one-out single and pinch-hitter Tyler Harrington walked to set up Helms’ heroics. Helms, who was facing reliever Jett Johnston, worked the full to 3-and-2 before driving what would have been an extra base hit into the gap.
For Helms, the game-winning hit came against the program that he originally signed with in 2021. However, Helms never played in a game for Auburn. Helms’ father, Wesley, is a former Auburn player who spent 13 seasons in Major League baseball. The younger Helms spent two seasons at Shelton State in Tuscaloosa before coming to UAB.
UAB players streamed onto the field after Helm’s game-winner but the Blazers’ celebration was tempered by Auburn coach Butch Thompson asking the umpires to call Hollifield out for missing home plate. The Tigers appealed the play but the umpires ruled Hollifield safe before going to the replay monitor. After several minutes, the umpires returned to the field to announce that the winning run had indeed scored.
It was a rather hectic ending to a game that began with solo home runs by Auburn leadoff hitter Eric Snow and cleanup hitter Cooper McMurray. UAB starter Braxton Shelton settled in after that and pitched into the sixth inning. Shelton allowed five hits and four earned runs in 5.1 innings while walking four and striking out four.
Offensively, the Blazers had an answer for every time Auburn scored on Wednesday. The answers began in the bottom of the first inning when Hollifield had a RBI single and third baseman Todd Clay drove home two more runs to give UAB a 3-2 lead. After McMurray’s second home run, which came in the fourth inning, Ty Mauldin scored on a Logan Braunschweig ground ball to give the Blazers a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth.
Auburn’s Lucas Steele had a RBI single in the sixth inning and a run-scoring double in the eighth inning. Sandwich in between Steele’s RBI hits was a run-scoring single by Clay. Hollifield, who began the rally with a one-out double, scored the run.
The teams were tied entering the ninth inning. UAB reliever Ryan Olson, whose father Gregg played at Auburn and is a member of the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame, quickly shut the Tigers down in the top on the ninth inning. UAB responded with the game-winning rally.
Clay had three hits and three RBI for the Blazers while Hollifield finished with three hits, three runs scored and a RBI. Leadoff hitter Gavin Lewis had a single, double and run scored and Helms finished with two hits. McMurray and Chase Fralick (single, double) were the only Tigers with multiple hits.
UAB (10-2) moves on to play in the First Pitch Invitational this weekend in Greenville, South Carolina. The Blazers play Michigan State and Wofford on Friday, Cornell on Saturday and Michigan State again on Sunday. Auburn, which saw a 10-game winning streak snapped and fell to 11-2, plays host Old Dominion in a non-conference series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.