May 21, 2002

DeLand, Fla. - Samford begins its quest for the 2002 Atlantic Sun Conference Baseball Tournament Championship when it plays top seed UCF at 11 a.m. (EST) Wednesday in the opening round at Stetson's Melching Field. The game will be broadcast live over the internet at www.samfordsports.com.

The Bulldogs swept Belmont last weekend to earn the final spot in the tournament after Mercer, Georgia St. and Campbell all lost conference games. Freshman right-hander Alan Bryan pitched three shut-out innings in relief to pick up his first career save as Samford defeated Belmont, 7-5. The Bulldogs had not swept an Atlantic Sun series until its final home series against the Bruins during senior weekend.

Samford and UCF will meet for the fourth time this season. The Golden Knights won this season's series back in March, 2-1. Joe Denson's single to left field drove in Sae Evans and Cory Sumner followed with a RBI single of his own as Samford avoided the series sweep shutting out UCF, 2-0 in nine innings in the second game of a doubleheader. UCF won game one of the doubleheader 12-9. In the opener of the series, Dee Brown's sacrifice fly to center field scored David Mann with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to lift UCF to the 7-6 victory in Orlando, Fla.

The Bulldogs are making their first tournament appearance under head coach Tim Parenton. The last time a Samford team made it to the tournament was 1997.

Sophomore left-hander Derek Tharpe will get the call in the first round game. Tharpe has given up only four earned runs in his last 18 innings in the last three conference games and has a 3.83 ERA in A-Sun games this season. Sophomore second baseman Michael Collins has been hot lately for Samford going 8-for-16 with four RBI last week. Collins is hitting .368 in conference games. UCF is led by A-Sun Freshman-of-the-Year Dee Brown, who is hitting .413 on the season with 50 RBI on 76 hits. Jeremy Frost is the leading home run hitter with eight. Either Lincoln Mincks (3.53 ERA) or Mark Michael (7-3, 3.98 ERA) will get the call for the Golden Knights in the opening round.

If Samford wins game one, it will play the loser of the game between Stetson and Troy St. at 3 p.m. Thursday. If the Bulldogs lose the opener, it will play the loser of the game between Florida Atlantic and Jacksonville at 11 a.m. Thursday.