April 8, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Troy University baseball team plated nine runs in the final two innings to pull away from Samford for a 17-11 win Wednesday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

With the loss, Samford drops to 11-21 on the season. Troy improves its record to 19-13 with the win.

"Tonight, I thought we were pretty good offensively in places," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "I thought we swung the bats well. When you give up 16 and 17 runs on back-to-back nights, it makes it tough."

Troy's Adam Bryant was 4-for-5 with three home runs and six RBI. Miles Hoyle went 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Charley Williams also had a pinch-hit home run for the Trojans.

Josh Storm pitched 1.2 innings in relief, giving up three runs on two hits to get the win for the Trojans. Chris Sorce pitched the final 1.2 innings, giving up just one hit to earn the save.

For Samford, Bo Smith was 4-for-4 with a home run and six RBI. Stephen Ballard was 5-for-5 with one RBI for the Bulldogs. Mason Meredeth went 2-for-5 with an RBI. David Knapp tossed a third of an inning in relief, giving up three runs on three hits to take the loss for the Bulldogs.

After a scoreless first inning, Troy plated three runs in the top of the second inning on a three-run home run by Hoyle to give the Trojans a 3-0 lead.

Samford scored a run in the bottom of the second inning to cut the lead to 3-1. Smith led the inning off with a double. After moving to third base on a balk, Smith scored on a wild pitch for Samford's first run of the game.

Troy plated two runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth to push its lead to 7-1. In the third inning, Ryan Ditthardt singled up the middle to drive in Steven Felix and Chad Watson. Bryant hit a two-run homer to account for the runs in the fourth inning to give the Trojans a six-run lead.

Samford came back with two runs in the fourth inning, one run in the fifth and four more in the sixth to take an 8-7 lead. In the fourth inning, Smith homered with David Schulze on base to make the score 7-3. In the fifth inning, Smith singled to drive in Meredeth to cut the Troy lead to 7-4.

In the sixth inning, Smith drove in two runs with a single to right field. Ballard and Meredeth also drove in a run each in the inning to give Samford an 8-7 lead.

Troy's Bryant led off the top of the seventh inning with a solo home run to tie the score at 8-8. The Trojans then added five runs in the eighth inning to take a 13-8 lead. Williams homered for the first run of the eighth inning. Watson drove in two runs, and Bryant and Felix drove in a run each in the inning for a five-run Troy lead.

Samford came back with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to cut the Troy lead to 13-11. Ballard singled, Meredeth singled and Schulze walked to load the bases with no outs. Smith then hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Ballard to make the score 13-9. After Joe Durham walked to load the bases again, Austin Allison singled to drive in Schulze and Meredeth for Samford's final two runs of the game.

Troy put the game out of reach with four runs in the top of the ninth inning to make the final score 17-11. Daniel Peterson drove in two runs with a single, and Bryant hit his third home run of the game, a two-run shot for the game's final two runs.

Samford will return to action on Friday when the Bulldogs play at Appalachian State. Friday's game opens a three-game Southern Conference series, and is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start from Boone, N.C.