April 20, 2005

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team fell behind early, but came back for a 10-7 win over cross-city rival UAB Wednesday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

UAB (23-14) jumped on top early with four runs in the first inning. Clint Toomey singled to open the inning. J.R. Bond then hit a two-run home run to center field for the game's first two runs. Phillip Bell later tripled to drive in Nathan McCorkle and Seth Rollin for a 4-0 Blazer lead.

Samford (13-23) came back with four runs in the bottom of the first inning to tie the score. Bear Burnett doubled to drive in John Morgan and Matt Alling to cut the UAB lead to 4-2. Parker Gargis later doubled to score Burnett and Trey Moody to make the score 4-4.

The Bulldogs took the lead with a run in the second inning. Garrett Rice grounded out to shortstop and Justin Worthington scored on the play to give Samford a 5-4 lead.

Samford added two runs in the third inning to push its lead to 7-4. Gargis grounded out to score Moody for the first run of the inning. Jeff Dils scored on a UAB error for a three-run Samford lead.

The Blazers plated two runs in the fourth inning to cut the Samford lead to one at 7-6. Bond singled to score Ben McCullars for the first run of the inning. Cole Helms later hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Ryan Metcalf to make the score 7-6.

Samford plated three more runs in the seventh inning to push its lead to 10-6. Daniel Williams singled to drive in Moody for an 8-6 Samford lead. Worthington later singled up the middle to drive in Gargis and Jeff Dils to make the score 10-6.

UAB added one final run in the eighth to make the final score 10-7. Levi Patmon singled to drive in Bell for the game's final run.

For Samford, Gargis went 2-for-3 with three RBI, and Burnett was 2-for-5 with two RBI. Bill Whitehead picked up his first collegiate win, pitching 4.1 innings in relief. Whitehead gave up just one run on five hits. Michael Neimkin picked up his fourth save of the season. Neimkin pitched the final 1.1 innings allowing just one hit.

UAB was led by Bond, going 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Heath Trapscott took the loss for the Blazers. Trapscott pitched 2.0 innings, giving up seven runs on seven hits.

Samford will return to action this weekend when the Bulldogs play host to Eastern Kentucky in a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., and a single game on Sunday, also at 1:00 p.m.