March 11, 2003

Samford hits the road Tuesday and Wednesday for a midweek series against Middle Tennessee State in Murfreesboro, Tenn. First-pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. each day. Fans can follow live game action via gametracker at www.samfordsports.com.

The Bulldogs (4-11, 2-4 A-Sun) dropped two Atlantic Sun Conference games last weekend to Campbell, 13-4 and 7-0, before winning the rubber game of the series, 4-1. Samford's freshmen Jeff Dils, Justin Klinger and Hunter Tubbs combined to go 5-for-7 with one run scored and one RBI. Freshman right-hander Chandler Tidwell picked up his second career win. Tidwell allowed just one run in 4 2/3 innings of work. Samford is now hitting .257 as a team and has a team ERA of 6.51 ERA. Sae Evans leads the offense hitting .346 with nine RBI.

Middle Tennessee State (4-6) dropped three games to Southwest Missouri State, 2-1, 9-3 and 7-6 over the weekend. Nate Jaggers had five hits and one RBI and two runs scored in the series. Jaggers leads the team hitting .410 with eight RBI and two home runs. As a team, the Blue Raiders hit .270 with team ERA of 5.60.

Freshman right-hander Stephen Artz (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will get the start Tuesday while MTSU will counter with B.J. Church (0-0, 0.00 ERA). Karl Huch (0-0, 16.88 ERA) will start Wednesday's game while right-hander Steven Kines (0-0, 27.00) will get the start for the Blue Raiders.

Samford is 0-1 against Middle Tennessee State under Tim Parenton. The Bulldogs last played the Blue Raiders in 2001. MTSU defeated Samford, 8-2, in Murfreesboro.

The Bulldogs head back to Tennessee this weekend when they travel to Belmont for an Atlantic Sun Conference Series.