May 23, 2007

Box Score

PADUCAH, Ky. - Samford's Trent Hill pitched the final 7.0 innings, giving up just two runs on four hits to help the Bulldog baseball team to an 8-3 win over Eastern Kentucky in the opening round of the O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament Wednesday afternoon at Brooks Stadium.

Hill entered the game with no outs in the top of the third inning for injured starter Josh Ehmke.

"Trent (Hill) really bailed us out of a tough situation in the third," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "And the fact that he was able to finish the game for us, not forcing us to go to our bullpen any more can be big as this tournament plays out. In essence, we lost two guys today when it should have been one."

The win gives Samford improves Samford's record to 30-26. This marks the first time Samford has had 30 wins in back-to-back seasons in the history of the baseball program

For Samford at the plate, Bear Burnett was 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBI. Parker Gargis and Louis Rojas had two hits each for Samford. Garrett Rice hit a two-run home run in a 1-for-3 performance.

Bear Burnett was 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBI in Wednesday's win over Eastern Kentucky.

For EKU, Tyler Barnett and Lucas Waters had two hits each. Chris Grider took the loss on the mound for the Colonels, giving up five runs on four hits.

After EKU took a 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the first inning, Samford came back with four runs in the bottom of the first to take a 4-1 lead. Burnett doubled down the left-field line to drive in Michael Marseco, who had led the inning off with a walk, to tie the score at 1-1. Burnett later scored from third base when Luke Peavy grounded out to make the score 2-1. Rice then hit a two-run home run, his 11th of the season, with Rojas on base to give Samford a three-run lead.

In the third inning, Samford added a run to push its lead to 5-1. Burnett scored when Peavy hit a sacrifice fly for Samford's fifth run of the game.

EKU plated two runs in the top of the fourth inning to cut the Samford lead to 5-3. Barnett and Aaron Barrows drove in a run each for the Colonels in the inning.

Samford added a run in the sixth inning and two more in the eighth to make the final score 8-3. In the sixth inning, Burnett singled to drive in pinch-runner Jonathan Lowery to make the score 6-3. In the eighth inning, Burnett homered to right field with Marseco on base for the final two runs of the game.

Samford will now play Thursday against either top-seeded Austin Peay or second-seeded Jacksonville State at a time to be determined.