April 17, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team will play host to Auburn Wednesday night at Regions Park in the second-annual Auburn-Samford Baseball Classic presented by First American Bank.

Samford enters the game with a record of 17-19 overall and 4-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference after losing two of three games to Southeast Missouri over the weekend. Auburn is currently 25-14 overall and 4-11 in the Southeastern Conference after dropping two of three games at third-ranked South Carolina over the weekend.

Samford is led at the plate by Michael Marseco with a .366 batting average. Parker Gargis leads Samford in home runs with 10 and RBI with 27. Chandler Tidwell has the lowest ERA of the team's starting pitchers at 2.47. Josh Ehmke leads the team in wins with a 5-4 record. Trent Hill (2-4, 5.27 ERA) is scheduled to start the game on the mound for Samford.

Joseph Sanders leads Auburn with a .356 batting average. Mike Bianucci leads the team in home runs with 10, while Josh Donaldson has a team-high 45 RBI. Scott Shuman has a record of 4-1 and a team-low 1.59 ERA. Paul Burnside has the team's best record at 6-1. Austin Hubbard (1-0, 5.51 ERA) is the scheduled starter for the Tigers.

Earlier this season, on Feb. 27, Auburn defeated Samford, 4-1, in Auburn. Last season, Samford and Auburn split their season series. Auburn won the game at Auburn, 6-4, while Samford took the game in Birmingham by a score of 5-4. In the last 10 meetings, Auburn leads the series, 8-2. Under head coach Casey Dunn, Samford is 2-4 against Auburn.

The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.al.com/wvsu. Fans can also follow the game live on the internet via GameTracker at www.samfordsports.com.