March 4, 2009

Box Score

TROY, Ala. - A ninth-inning comeback fell just short as the Samford baseball team dropped a 6-5 decision to in-state rival Troy Wednesday evening at Riddle-Pace Field.

"I thought we battled pretty well," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "We took some good at-bats in the last inning. I thought we were patient at the plate. We did some good things, and if you look at it, this is a game we probably should have won. We outscored them for most of the game, they just had one big inning."

For Samford at the plate, Wayne Miller and Mason Meredeth had two hits each. David Schulze drove in two runs in a 1-for-3 performance. Marcus Rodriguez had a solo home run, going 1-for-4 at the plate.

Samford used eight pitchers in the game. Tyler Vanderheiden took the loss, pitching 1.0 inning, giving up one run on three hits.

Troy was led at the plate by Ryan Ditthardt, going 3-for-5 with two RBI. Steven Rosado and Steven Felix had two hits each for the Trojans. Fred Lewis pitched 1.1 innings in relief, giving up one run on one hit to earn the win. Josh Storm pitched the final inning, surrendering one run on one hit to pick up the save.

Samford entered the ninth inning trailing, 6-4. Pinch-hitter Joe Durham walked to lead the inning off. After a strikeout, Miller doubled to right field and Durham moved to third base. Michael Johnson then grounded out to drive in Durham to make the score 6-5. After back-to-back walks to Meredeth and Schulze to load the bases, Trey Hayes flew out to center field to end the game.

Samford jumped on top first with a run in the top of the first inning. After Johnson walked with one out in the inning, Meredeth doubled to center field to drive in Johnson for a 1-0 Samford lead.

Troy came back with four runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 4-1 lead. Daryl Otwell scored the Trojans' first run of the game on a wild pitch to tie the score at 1-1. Ditthardt later singled through the left side of the infield with the bases loaded to drive in Adam Bryant and Bart Pettus for a 3-1 Troy lead. The final run of the inning was scored when Felix reached on an infield single to drive in Michael Precise for a three-run Troy lead.

Samford added a run in the top of the third inning to cut the Troy lead to 4-2. Schulze hit a sacrifice fly to left field to bring in Johnson, who had earlier singled for Samford's second run of the game.

Samford added another run in the top of the fourth inning. Rodriguez led the inning off with a home run to left field to make the score 4-3.

The Bulldogs then tied the score with a run in the top of the fifth inning. Meredeth walked to lead off the inning and then moved to third base on a Troy error. Meredeth then scored when Schulze grounded out to shortstop to make the score 4-4.

Troy regained the lead with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Bryant hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Felix, who led the inning off with a double to give the Trojans a 5-4 lead.

The Trojans added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score 6-4 when Brett Henry singled to drive in Miles Hoyle for a two-run Troy lead.

Samford will return to action on Friday, Mar. 6, when the Bulldogs play host to Wofford to open their first Southern Conference series. The first pitch for Friday's game is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Joe Lee Griffin Field.