April 10, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team plated three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 7-6, come-from-behind Southern Conference win over UNC Greensboro Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

"What a phenomenal finish," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "In that last inning we had some great at-bats by our kids. I'm proud of the way our kids fought"

With Samford trailing, 6-4 with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Stephen Ballard walked and Mason Meredeth singled, moving Ballard to second base. A wild pitch then moved Meredeth to second base and Ballard to third.

David Schulze then walked to load the bases. Ballard then scored on a wild pitch to make the score 6-5. Bo Smith then grounded out to first base to drive in Meredeth to tie the score and move Schulze to third. Trey Hayes then singled to drive in Schulze to give Samford the 7-6 win.

Samford was led at the plate by Meredeth, going 3-for-4. Wayne Miller and Schulze each had a home run and two RBI in the game. Smith and Hayes each had an RBI in the win for the Bulldogs.

Lex Rutledge pitched the final 1.1 innings, giving up one unearned run on two hits to earn the win for Samford and improve to 4-0 on the season. Kyle Putkonen started the game on the mound, pitching 6.1 innings, giving up three earned runs on seven hits. Mark Lewallyn and Michael Gunter also saw time on the mound.

UNC Greensboro was led at the plate by Ed Jayjack, going 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBI. Lloyd Enzor went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Harry Slade and Eric Brindle also had two hits each for the Spartans. Blake Hassebrock pitched the complete game, giving up seven runs on eight hits to take the loss and drop his record to 0-3.

The game was scoreless through the first three innings. UNC Greensboro jumped on top with one run in the top of the fourth inning. Corey Overholtzer hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Chris Barker for a 1-0 UNCG lead.

UNC Greensboro then added two runs in the top of the sixth inning to push its lead to 3-0. Jayjack hit a two-run home run to right field with Slade on base for a three-run UNCG lead.

Samford came back with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to cut the Spartans' lea to 3-2. Schulze homered to right field with Meredeth on base to bring Samford to within one run.

The Spartans pushed their lead to 4-2 with a run in the top of the seventh inning. Barker was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in Brindle for a two-run UNCG lead.

Samford tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Miller hit a home run to left field with Brad Moss on base to make the score 4-4.

UNC Greensboro plated a run in the eighth inning and another in the ninth to take a 6-4 lead. In the eighth inning, Enzor doubled to right-center field to drive in Jayjack to give UNCG a 5-4 lead. In the ninth inning, Enzor singled to right field to drive in Jayjack for a two-run Spartan lead, setting the stage for Samford's ninth-inning comeback.

With the win, Samford improves to 19-11 overall and 10-1 in SoCon play. The win is Samford's ninth-straight SoCon victory. UNC Greensboro drops to 14-17 overall and 2-11 in league play.

The teams will conclude their three-game series with a game Sunday at 1 p.m. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. The game can also be viewed online via the Bulldog Big Screen at www.samfordsports.com. Fans can also follow the game live on the internet via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Sunday's Game