March 15, 2009

Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Samford baseball team split a Southern Conference doubleheader at Furman Sunday afternoon. Samford won the first game, 9-4, before dropping game two by a score of 6-5.

Samford moves its record to 6-10 overall and 3-3 in SoCon play. Furman is currently 8-7 overall and 3-3 in league play.

In game one, Samford was led at the plate by Trey Hayes, going 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and one RBI. Wayne Miller was 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. David Schulze, Marcus Rodriguez and Michael Johnson had two hits each. David Knapp pitched 6.0 innings, giving up three runs on 10 hits to pick up the win.

Furman's Marcus Rose went 4-for-5 with a double. Aaron Thompkins went 2-for-4 with a double for the Paladins. Barry Benton tossed 5.0 innings, giving up nine runs on 13 hits to take the loss.

Samford jumped on top first with one run in the top of the first inning. Miller singled to right field to start the game. Miller then stole second base and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Stephen Ballard. Miller scored when Mason Meredeth grounded out to second base for a 1-0 Samford lead.

Samford plated three more runs in the second inning to push its lead to 4-0. Hayes scored the first run of the inning on a balk. Ballard later singled to right field to drive in Brad Moss and Rodriguez for a four-run Samford lead.

After Furman scored a run in the bottom of the third inning, Samford came back with four runs in the top of the fourth inning to make the score 8-1. Hayes led the inning off with a solo home run to left field. Rodriguez scored when Miller singled to center field for a 6-1 lead. Schulze later singled to center field to drive in Miller and Johnson for the final two runs of the inning.

Samford added another run in the fifth inning to push its lead to 9-1. After Hayes doubled to right field, Johnson tripled to right-center field to drive in Hayes.

Furman came back with two runs in the sixth inning and one in the eighth to cut the Samford lead to 9-4, but the Paladins could get no closer as Samford came away with the five-run win.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Furman's Campbell Lewis hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Paladins to a 6-5 win.

Samford hit a season-high four home runs in the second game. Miller, Schulze, Matthew Bennett and Hayes each homered for the Bulldogs. Kyle Nichols pitched the ninth inning to take the loss on the mound. Andrew Jones pitched 8.0 strong innings, giving up three runs on nine hits for the Bulldogs.

Furman was led in the second game by Rose, going 3-for-4 at the plate. Connor Lind was 3-for-3 for the Paladins. Spencer Hale pitched the final inning for Furman to earn the win.

After Furman took an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the third inning, Samford came back with two runs in the top of the fourth to tie the score at 2-2. Bennett and Hayes led the inning off with back-to-back home runs to even the score.

Samford added a run in the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead. Miller led the inning off with a home run to left field, the first home run of his Samford career, to give the Bulldogs the lead.

Samford added two more runs in the seventh inning to push its lead to 5-2. Schulze hit a two-run home run with Meredeth on base to give Samford a three-run lead.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Furman's Justin Holloway walked and Will Miller singled up the middle to set the stage for Lewis' game-winning homer.

Samford will return to action on Tuesday when the Bulldogs travel to Nashville, Tenn., to take on the Belmont Bruins. The game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.