March 25, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team will play host to the Furman Paladins in a three-game Southern Conference series this weekend at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

The series will mark Samford's second SoCon series of the season. The Bulldogs won two-of-three games at College of Charleston, March 12-14.

The Bulldogs enter the weekend with a record of 11-10 overall and 2-1 in Southern Conference play. Samford is coming off a 12-4 loss at Jacksonville State on Wednesday evening.

Samford is led at the plate by Bo Smith, batting .386 so far this season. David Schulze is batting .359, and he leads the team in both home runs with six and RBI with 23. Wayne Miller is batting .326 with five home runs and 16 RBI.

Samford is scheduled to pitch Jonathan Stephens (3-0, 6.67 ERA) in the series opener on Friday. Kyle Putkonen (2-1, 7.66 ERA) will start Saturday's game on the mound for Samford, while Josh Martin (0-3, 7.62 ERA) is scheduled to start Sunday's series finale for the Bulldogs.

The Paladins are currently 8-13 overall and 2-4 in Southern Conference play. Furman is coming off a 10-9 win at Georgia Wednesday evening.

Aaron Thompkins leads the Paladins at the plate, batting .377 on the season. Will Owens is batting .375 with five home runs and a team-high 23 RBI. Will Muzika leads the team in home runs with six.

The Paladins are scheduled to pitch Ian Parry (1-1, 4.88 ERA) on Friday. Brian Dudzinski (0-3, 9.58 ERA) will start for Furman on Saturday. Furman's starter for Sunday's series finale will be Kevin Gaid (1-1, 6.75 ERA).

Samford and Furman have met four previous times, with the Paladins holding a 3-1 advantage in the series. Last season, Furman won two of the three meetings. Furman won the first game, 11-2, but Samford took game two by a score of 9-4 and the Paladins came back to take game three by a score of 6-5.

The teams will play Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. The games on Friday and Sunday can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. Fans can follow all three games live on the internet at the links below.

GameTracker For Game 1

GameTracker For Game 2

GameTracker For Game 3