April 21, 2009

Box Score

AUBURN, Ala. - Samford freshman pitcher Kyle Putkonen pitched 7.0 strong innings, giving up just two runs on two hits and striking out a career-high eight batters as the Bulldog baseball team won at Auburn, 8-2, Tuesday evening at Plainsman Park.

Freshman Josh Martin pitched the final two hitless innings, striking out a career-high five batters to finish the game on the mound. The Bulldog pitching staff allowed just two hits over the complete nine innings, both coming on solo home runs.

"This was a great job on the mound by two young kids," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "The best part about it is both of those guys will be around a long time. This was the second game in a row where Kyle went out there with a plan and executed it."

For Samford at the plate, Trey Hayes was 2-for-3 with a triple and home run and five RBI. Stephen Ballard was 4-for-5 for the Bulldogs. Mason Meredeth, David Schulze and Brad Moss had two hits each for Samford. Meredeth's performance extended his current hitting streak to 26 games.

Auburn's Hunter Morris and Casey McElroy each hit a solo home run to account for the Tigers' two runs. Paul Burnside pitched 4.1 innings, giving up four runs on seven hits to take the loss.

Samford jumped on top first with three runs in the top of the first inning. After Ballard singled, Meredeth reached base on a fielder's choice with Ballard being thrown out on the play. Schulze singled and Bo Smith walked to load the bases. Hayes then tripled to right-center field to drive in all three runners for a 3-0 Samford lead.

Samford pushed its lead to 4-0 with a run in the top of the second inning. Michael Johnson led the inning off with a triple to left-center field. Johnson then scored on a sacrifice fly by Moss to give Samford a four-run lead.

Auburn got on the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the second inning. McElroy led the inning off with a solo home run to left field to cut the Samford lead to 4-1.

Auburn added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut Samford's lead to 4-2. Morris hit a solo home run for Auburn's final run of the game.

Samford plated two runs in the top of the seventh inning to push its lead to 6-2. Smith led the inning off with a single. Hayes then homered to left field to make the score 6-2.

Samford plated the game's final two runs in the top of the eighth inning to make the final score 8-2. With the bases loaded, Joe Durham singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Schulze and Ballard for the game's final two runs.

With the win, Samford improves to 15-26. Auburn drops to 25-16 on the season. The win marks the second-straight week Samford has claimed a win over an SEC opponent after defeating Alabama, 14-13 in 10 innings last Wednesday.

Samford will return to action on Friday, April 24, when the Bulldogs play host to Elon in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference series. Friday's game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field.