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May 20, 2004

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team will play a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series at Murray State on Friday and Saturday.

Samford enters the game with a record of 21-30 overall and 13-11 in the OVC after falling to UAB, 16-4, Tuesday night. Murray State is currently 16-33 overall and 10-14 in conference games. MSU is coming off a 9-1 loss at Kentucky Wednesday night.

If Samford can win one of its three games this weekend, the Bulldogs will qualify for the OVC Tournament. Coming into the weekend, Samford has a three-game lead on Murray State, and MSU must sweep the Bulldogs to reach the tournament. The OVC Tournament is scheduled for May 26-30 at Brooks Stadium in Paducah, Ky. The top six teams advance to the tournament, and Samford is currently in sixth place in the league heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

Samford is led at the plate by Matt Alling, batting .375 (72-for-192). He also leads the team in RBI (45), hits (72) and triples (6). Richard Bishop currently leads the team in home runs (8), while Michael Collins is the team-leader in doubles (17). Stephen Artz and Joseph Edens have been the leaders of the pitching staff. Artz is 5-5 with a 4.11 ERA and a team-high 93 strike outs. Edens has a record of 6-5 and a team-best ERA of 3.79.

The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday, May 21, at 1:00 p.m., and a single game on Saturday, also at 1:00 p.m. All three games can be heard on the internet at www.samfordsports.com, and the first game on Friday and Saturday's game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1.