March 6, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team earned its fourth-straight win with a 7-4 victory over the Evansville Purple Aces Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

Samford improves to 7-3 with the win. Evansville drops to 2-8 with the loss. The two teams will wrap up their three-game series Sunday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

For Samford on Saturday, Stephen Ballard was 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI. Bo Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBI, while Mason Meredeth went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Brad Moss was 2-for-2 at the plate for the Bulldogs.

Kyle Putkonen pitched 6.0 innings, giving up four runs on five hits while striking out six batters to get the win for the Bulldogs. Lex Rutledge pitched the final inning, giving up just one hit to earn his fourth save of the season.

Evansville was led by Tom Heithoff, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Jake Naumann gave up seven runs over 3.1 innings of work to take the loss for the Purple Aces.

After Evansville took a 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the first inning, Samford scored three runs in the first inning and three more in the second to take a 6-1 lead. Ballard hit a ground-rule double to drive in Wayne Miller for the game's first run. Smith later singled to drive in Ballard to give Samford the lead for good. The final run of the first inning was scored when Smith scored from third base when David Schulze reached base on an Evansville error.

In the second inning Ballard, Meredeth and Smith drove in a run each to give the Bulldogs a 6-1 lead.

Evansville came back with two runs in the third inning and one more in the fourth to cut the Samford lead to 6-4. Eric Stamets scored when Greg Wallace grounded out to first base for the first run of the third inning. Heithoff later hit a solo home run to cut the Samford lead to three runs. In the fourth inning, Ty Legan hit a solo homer to make the score 6-4.

Samford plated one final run in the bottom of the fourth inning to make the final score 7-4. Ballard singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Moss for the game's final run.

Sunday's series finale is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field. Fans can follow the game live online via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Sunday's Game