March 12, 2004

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team opened up a 12-0 lead on Toledo and held on to defeat the Rockets by a score of 12-8 at Joe Lee Griffin Field Friday night.

Samford (2-10) jumped on top early with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Garrett Rice doubled to bring in Michael Collins for the game's first run. Eric Hollis then grounded out to third base to score Matt Alling for a 2-0 Bulldog lead.

Samford took control of the game in the bottom of the third when the Bulldogs plated six runs to increase their lead to 8-0. Wade Lamont, Richard Bishop, Justin Worthington, Collins, Alling and Rice each drove in a run in the inning for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs made the score 12-0 with four runs in the fourth inning. Collins walked to score Lamont for the inning's first run. Alling later doubled to left center to bring in Collins, Worthington and Joe Denson to make the score 12-0.

Toledo (0-9) got on the board with five runs in the top of the fifth to cut the Samford lead to 12-5. Ryan Laude hit a home run with Aaron Rouser and Shawn Hurst on base to make the score 12-3. Sean Dobson later singled up the middle to bring in Chris Arvay and Dan Stong for the final two runs of the inning.

The Rockets put the final three runs on the board in the eighth inning. Hurst singled to drive in Dobson, and Nick Lance scored on an error for the first two runs of the inning. Rouser then grounded out to first base to score Hurst to make the final score 12-8.

For Samford, Rice went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Denson was also 3-for-4 on the night. Karl Huch pitched 7.1 innings, giving up seven runs on 10 hits and striking out a career-high nine batters to pick up the win and improve his record to 1-2 on the season.

Toledo was led at the plate by Stong, who went 3-for-4 for the Rockets. J.R. Duffey pitched 2.1 innings, surrendering eight runs on eight hits to take the loss and drop his record to 0-3 on the season.

Samford and Toledo will play again on Saturday. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.