Feb. 29, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team tallied 17 hits as the Bulldogs defeated the Saint Louis Billikens, 11-5, Friday afternoon in the first game of a three-game series at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

For Samford (2-3) at the plate, Michael Johnson was 3-for-5 with an RBI. Bear Burnett was 2-for-3 with three RBI. Alex Godshall and Michael Marseco also had two hits each for Samford.

Trent Hill pitched 6.0 innings, giving up just two earned runs on three hits to pick up the win on the mound for Samford.

For Saint Louis (0-4), Greg Rodgers was 1-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Dave Sever pitched 5.0 innings, giving up five runs on nine hits to take the loss.

Saint Louis jumped on top early with three runs in the top of the first inning. After the first two batters of the game reached base, Rodgers hit a three-run home run to right field with Andrew Guerra and Ramee Yacoub on base for a 3-0 Billiken lead.

Samford came back with a run in the bottom of the first inning to cut the lead to 3-1. Godshall walked to lead off the inning, then stole second and advanced to third base on an infield single by Johnson. Godshall then scored from third when Marseco hit into a double play.

Samford plated another run in the bottom of the fourth inning to close to within one run. After Michael Rutledge singled to open the inning, Burnett doubled to right field to drive in Rutledge to make the score 3-2.

The Bulldogs plated three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 5-3 lead. Johnson tripled to center field to drive in Godshall to tie the score at 3-3. Marseco then singled to right field to drive in Johnson to make the score 4-3. Burnett later singled to right field to drive in Marseco to give Samford a two-run lead.

Samford put another run on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score 6-3. After John Morgan doubled and advanced to third base on a wild pitch, he scored when Godshall grounded out to second base.

Saint Louis came back with two runs in the top of the seventh inning to cut the Samford lead to 6-5. Tom Pinnell tripled to center field to drive in Yacoub for the Billikens' first run of the inning. J.D. Dunn then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Pinnell to cut Samford's lead to one run.

Samford plated two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to push its lead back out to three at 8-5. Marcus Rodriguez doubled down the left-field line to drive in Marseco for Samford's first run of the inning. Tripp Swann later singled to center field to drive in pinch-runner Joe Durham to give Samford a three-run lead. Samford then added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 11-5.

The same two teams will play again Saturday. The teams will play a doubleheader Saturday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.