March 5, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team opened its three-game weekend series against Evansville with a 9-2 win Friday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

With the win, Samford improves to 6-3 on the season. Evansville drops to 2-7 with the loss.

For Samford at the plate, Wayne Miller went 2-for-6 with a home run and one RBI. Michael Johnson hit a two-run homer in a 1-for-3 performance. Johnson's home run was the first of his Samford career. Stephen Ballard and Bo Smith drove in two runs each for the Bulldogs.

Jonathan Stephens pitched 7.0 innings, giving up one run on eight hits to earn the win. Stephens struck out three batters while walking none. Grant Sides, Rumiko Forrester and Charles Terry also saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs.

Evansville was led at the plate by Eric Stamets, going 2-for-5 with an RBI. Alex Acheson went 2-for-2 at the plate for the Purple Aces. Shawn Kuester also drove in a run for Evansville. Matt Netherton pitched 2.0 innings, giving up five runs on six hits to take the loss for the Purple Aces.

Samford grabbed the early lead with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Miller led the game off with a home run to left-center field for a 1-0 Samford lead.

The Bulldogs added five runs in the second inning to push their lead to 6-0. After Trey Hayes walked with one out, Johnson hit a two-run homer to center field for a three-run Samford lead. Brad Moss scored on an Evansville error to make the score 4-0. Smith later doubled to right-center field to drive in Mason Meredeth and Ballard for a six-run Samford lead.

Evansville got on the scoreboard with a run in the top of the third inning, Kuester singled to left field to drive in Acheson to make the score 6-1.

Samford plated another run in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score 7-1. Tripp Swann singled to left field to drive in Meredeth for Samford's seventh run of the contest.

Samford added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the score 9-1. Johnson scored the first run of the inning on an Evansville error. Meredeth singled up the middle to drive in Miller for an eight-run Samford lead.

Evansville added one run in the top of the ninth inning to make the final score 9-2. Stamets singled to center field to drive in Ryan Oesterle for the game's final run.

Samford and Evansville will continue their series with a game Saturday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Fans can follow the game live online via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Saturday's Game