March 22, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team dropped a 9-7 decision to the College of Charleston Cougars in a Southern Conference game Sunday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game gives the Cougars a three-game sweep of the Bulldogs in the weekend series.

With the loss, Samford drops to 7-14 overall and 3-6 in SoCon play. College of Charleston improves to 17-3 overall and 8-1 in league play.

"Our kids did a good job of competing and playing hard today," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "I thought we had eight good innings of at-bats. I thought we swung the bats well, we just didn't finish."

College of Charleston belted four home runs in the game. Brandon Sizemore hit two homers, going 2-for-5 with three RBI. Joey Bergman (3-for-4) and Austin Morgan (2-for-5) also had a home run each for the Cougars.

David Peterson pitched 6.0 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits to pick up the win. Owen Brittle tossed the final two innings to earn the save for the Cougars.

For the Bulldogs at the plate, Wayne Miller went 2-for-5 with a double and three RBI. Stephen Ballard went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Marcus Rodriguez was 2-for-3 at the plate for Samford.

Andrew Jones pitched 3.0 innings, giving up six runs on six hits to take the loss for the Bulldogs. Samford used seven pitchers in the game.

College of Charleston jumped out to a 6-0 lead with one run in the first inning, three runs in the second inning and two runs in the third inning. Bergman homered for the run in the first inning. Morgan had a two-run homer and Greg Blake singled to drive in Matt Mansilla for the three runs in the second. In the third inning, Sizemore belted a two-run homer to give the Cougars a six-run lead.

Samford came back with three runs in the third inning to cut the lead to 6-3. Ballard doubled to right field to drive in Miller and Michael Johnson for Samford's first two runs of the game. Mason Meredeth later singled to right field to drive in Ballard to cut the Charleston lead to three runs.

After the Cougars plated a run in the fourth inning to make the score 7-3, Samford answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to cut the lead to 7-6. With two outs, Rodriguez singled, Johnson walked and Brad Moss singled to load the bases. Miller then cleared the bases with a double to center field to make the score 7-6.

College of Charleston added two runs in the top of the seventh inning to push its lead to 9-6. Sizemore homered to right-center field for the first run of the inning. Blake later singled to right field to drive in Ryan Daniels, who had reached base after being hit by a pitch, to give the Cougars a three-run lead.

Samford plated one final run in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the final score 9-7. Miller led the inning off with a single. Ballard then singled and Miller moved to third base. Miller then scored when Meredeth reached base on a Charleston error for the game's final run.

Samford will return to action on Tuesday, March 24, when the Bulldogs play host to Auburn. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field.