March 30, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team will play host to Ohio Valley Conference and in-state rival Jacksonville State in a three-game series this weekend at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday and a single game on Sunday.

Samford enters the series with a record of 14-13 overall and 1-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference after taking two games this week from UAB. Jacksonville State is currently 13-13 overall and 3-0 in OVC play after a 15-2 loss at Troy Tuesday night.

Michael Marseco leads Samford at the plate with a .355 batting average. Parker Gargis leads the team with a career-high 10 home runs and 26 RBI.

Chandler Tidwell (2-1, 2.66 ERA) is scheduled to start game one on the mound for Samford, while David Knapp (1-0, 3.10 ERA) will start Saturday's second game. Sunday's starter for the Bulldogs has yet to be determined.

Bert Smith leads JSU at the plate with a .400 batting average. Clay Whittemore is batting .394 for the Gamecocks. Tony Drinkard (3-0, 3.75 ERA), Ben Tootle (3-2, 4.71 ERA) and Donovan Hand (2-4, 5.65 ERA) are the scheduled starters on the mound for the Gamecocks.

Last season, Samford and Jacksonville State met five times, with JSU holding a 3-2 advantage. Samford won the regular-season series, taking two of the three games. Samford won the first two games by scores of 11-5 and 7-3, wile JSU won the third game, 17-6. The teams met twice in the OVC Tournament, with the Gamecocks taking both games by scores of 16-6 and 8-7.

Saturday's doubleheader will start at 1:00 p.m., and Sunday's single game is also scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start. All three games can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.al.com/wvsu. Fans can also follow all three games on the internet via GameTracker at www.samfordsports.com.