April 18, 2002

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Samford entered Thursday's double-header at Jacksonville State knowing it had to win three of its final four conference games to advance to the Atlantic Sun Tournament. Deanna Resmondo's RBI-single in the top of the fourth inning of game one gave the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead and Amber Fuller shut the door on the Gamecocks to give Samford a 3-1 win and a split to keep its tournament hopes alive.

Jacksonville State (32-11, 9-5 A-Sun) scored first in the opener when pinch hitter Samantha Gutierrez singled home Breanna Oleman from third base in the bottom of the second inning. Samford (20-26, 5-11 A-Sun) went on top in the fourth as Janet Middleton led off with a single and Michelle Dickey followed with a one-out single which got past the JSU centerfielder to put runners at second and third. Michelle Wright hit a sacrifice fly to score Middleton and tie the game and Resmondo followed with a single to center to score Dickey and give Samford a 2-1 lead.

The Bulldogs added an insurance run in the seventh inning as Wright tripled down the right field line and scored on an RBI-ground out by Sarah Godfrey. Amber Fuller went the distance for Samford giving up just one run on six hits and striking out three to improve to 11-9 on the season.

Jacksonville State used the long ball in game two to take an 8-0 victory in six innings. The Gamecocks took advantage of an error in right field to score two unearned runs in the first inning. Jessica Ford hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning and in the sixth Andrea Tomey hit a three-run blast to end the game by giving JSU the eight-run lead after the fifth inning. Oleman got the win for JSU in the nightcap giving up singles to Resmondo and Dickey and striking out four Bulldogs.

Erin Landsburg took the loss for Samford to fall to 9-17. The Bulldogs have been shut out in Landsburg's last four starts and have scored just one earned run in her last 36 innings of work.

Samford returns to the diamond on Monday afternoon at Georgia State in what is setting up to be a battle for the sixth and final tournament spot. Georgia State is currently in sixth place in the league standings but Samford is right on its heals just two games behind the Panthers. The double-header will begin at 5 p.m. CT in Atlanta.