BIRMINGHAM -- The University of Alabama could find neither the pitching nor the hitting it needed on Tuesday night at Regions Field. By the end of the night, the Crimson Tide found itself with an 8-0 loss to UAB.

"Credit UAB," Alabama coach Mitch Gaspard said. "They played extremely well, they pitched well, swung the bats well, but really on our end, it's really the second Tuesday in a row that I thought was a pretty poor performance on our side. We didn't pitch well, we were up in the zone all night. Didn't have good energy. Came out flat and they jumped on us in a hurry and we didn't show a lot of fight tonight unlike what we did this weekend, so it was a disappointing night tonight."

Mike Oczypok retired the side in the first inning for Alabama, but quickly ran into trouble and was pulled after 2 2/3 innings. He gave up five runs (four earned) and suffered his second straight loss as the midweek starter.

Gaspard said he might consider exploring other options to start the next midweek game, against Auburn in Birmingham.

"We're going to have to look," Gaspard said. "I trust Mike. I know he hasn't been very sharp, but he's a strike-thrower, he's a tough kid, he's competitive so we may look at someone else but I think his number will come back around again. He's a trustworthy guy. He just hasn't been sharp his last couple of outings."

The Blazers took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning to gain a firm grip on control of the game. Right fielder Griffin Gum led off with a single. First baseman Carter Pharis hit a grounder to UA shortstop Chandler Avant, who was looking for a double play, but missed a tag on Gum on the base path and by then was too late to make the throw to first, allowing both runners to reach safely.

The Blazers added runs in the third and fourth innings, then removed all doubt with two more runs in the seventh to push the lead to 8-0.

Alabama's lineup went down in order in four separate innings. Chance Vincent was the only UA player with multiple hits on the night, going 2-4. The Crimson Tide had just four total hits and one walk as UAB pitchers needed just 117 pitches on the night.

"I thought we were really good for three games this weekend and it just didn't show up tonight," Gaspard said. "We really didn't get anything going … So it was just a poor performance on the offensive end. When we did hit a couple balls good, they caught them and ran them down. Other than the first inning, we had a couple knocks with two outs. We just have to keep working. We have to press these guys and go on."

Reach Ben Jones at ben@tidesports.com or 205-722-0196.