March 22, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team completed a sweep of its first Ohio Valley Conference series of the season with a 12-5 win over Tennessee-Martin Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

With the win, Samford improves to 12-7 overall and 3-0 in OVC play, while UT Martin drops to 1-16 overall and 0-3 in league play.

For Samford at the plate, Michael Marseco was 3-for-5 with a home run, a triple and four RBI, while John Morgan was 3-for-4 with two RBI. In the top of the seventh inning, the Samford infield turned what, according to records, was the first triple play in Samford history.

Samford pitcher Andrew Jones pitched 4.0 innings in relief, giving up a run on five hits to pick up the win. Trent Hill earned the save, pitching the final two innings, surrendering only one hit.

For UT Martin, Scott Gladstone went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Wes Patterson pitched 2.2 innings, giving up six runs on six hits to take the loss for the Skyhawks.

Samford jumped on top first with a run in the bottom of the first inning when Marseco hit a solo home run to left field for a 1-0 Samford lead.

UT Martin came back with four runs in the top of the third inning to take a 4-1 lead. Gladstone, Miles Hartsfield, Patterson and Drew Mason drove in a run each in the inning.

Samford answered with five runs in the bottom of the third inning to re-take the lead at 6-4. Michael Johnson singled to drive in Marcus Rodriguez for Samford's first run of the inning. Marseco later singled to right field to drive in Johnson to make the score 4-3. Michael Rutledge hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Wayne Miller to tie the score. Bear Burnett doubled to drive in Marseco to give Samford the lead for good. Morgan then singled to drive in Burnett for a two-run Samford lead.

Samford added two runs in the fifth inning to push its lead to 8-4. Burnett and Morgan drove in a run each in the inning for the Bulldogs.

UTM added one run in the top of the seventh to cut the lead to 8-5. Gladstone homered to lead the inning off. The Skyhawks had two runners on base with no outs when Mason hit into a triple play.

Samford plated four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 12-5. Marseco drove in two runs with a triple in the inning. Matthew Bennett and Johnson drove in a run each in the inning for the Bulldogs.

Samford will return to action on Wednesday, Mar. 26, when the Bulldogs play host to Auburn at Regions Park. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start.