March 7, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team earned its second-straight Southern Conference win in a 3-2 victory over the Wofford Terriers Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

With the win, Samford improves to 5-5 overall and 2-0 in SoCon play. Wofford drops to 3-6 overall and 0-2 in league play.

"Today was a good battle," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "Davey (Knapp) competed well. We created some opportunities for them through poor defense, but again he found a way to pitch out of it. It was a great job when they did have runners on base and we created those opportunities for him to pitch out of it."

David Knapp pitched 7.0 strong innings, giving up one run on five hits and striking out eight batters to earn the win on the mound. Kyle Nichols tossed the final 2.0 innings, giving up one run on one hit to earn his second save of the season.

For Samford at the plate, David Schulze and Marcus Rodriguez had two hits each. Joe Durham hit his first Samford home run, driving in two runs in a 1-for-2 performance.

Wofford was led by Konstantine Diamaduros, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Mac Doyle also drove in a run for the Terriers. Gus White pitched 5.0 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits to take the loss for Wofford.

Samford plated two runs in the bottom of the second inning to grab an early 2-0 lead. After Rodriguez singled to left field, Durham hit a home run to give the Bulldogs a two-run lead.

Samford added a run in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 3-0. Mason Meredeth doubled to left field, and then Schulze singled up the middle to drive in Merdeth for Samford's third run of the game.

Wofford plated a run in the top of the sixth inning to cut the Samford lead to 3-1. Kyle Behrendt reached base on an infield single to lead off the inning. Diamaduros then doubled to left field to drive in Behrendt to draw the Terriers within two runs.

The Terriers added a run in the eighth inning to make the score 3-2. Behrendt reached base on a Samford error and later scored when Doyle doubled to left-center field.

Samford and Wofford will conclude their three-game SoCon series Sunday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be viewed live on the internet via SoCon TV at www.soconsports.com.