April 16, 2010

Box Score

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Samford baseball team dropped a 5-2 Southern Conference decision at Georgia Southern Friday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.

The loss was Samford's first SoCon loss in over a month and it ends the Bulldogs' 10-game SoCon win streak. Samford drops to 21-12 overall and 11-2 in league play, dropping the Bulldogs to second place in the standings, one game behind The Citadel (12-1). Georgia Southern improves to 19-15 overall and 10-6 in league play.

Samford was led at the plate by David Schulze, going 4-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Stephen Ballard and Austin Allison had one hit each for the Bulldogs.

Samford senior pitcher Jonathan Stephens pitched 7.0 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits to take the loss and drop his record this season to 5-1. The loss was the first of Stephens' Samford career, giving him a 12-1 career record in a Samford uniform. Mark Lewallyn also pitched an inning for Samford, giving up one run on two hits.

For Georgia Southern, Eric Phillips went 3-for-4, while A.J. Wirnsberger was 2-for-4 at the plate. Michael Burrus drove in three runs in a 1-for-2 performance, while Victor Roache had two RBI, going 1-for-2 at the plate.

Jake Brown pitched 7.2 innings, giving up two runs on five hits to earn the win for the Eagles and improve to 5-4 on the season. Dexter Bobo tossed the final 1.1 innings to earn his fourth save of the season.

After three and a half scoreless innings, Georgia Southern jumped on top with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Roache singled to drive in Kyle Blackburn and Phillips for the first two runs of the game. Burruss then singled to drive in Roache for a 3-0 GSU lead.

Samford got on the scoreboard with a run in the top of the sixth inning. Schulze doubled to right field to drive in Ballard to make the score 3-1.

Georgia Southern added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to push its lead to 4-1. Burruss walked with the bases loaded to bring in Phillips for a three-run GSU lead.

Samford cut the lead to 4-2 with a run in the top of the eighth inning. Schulze singled to left field to drive in Ballard for Samford's second run of the game.

Georgia Southern plated another run in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 5-2. Burrus hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Phillips for the game's final run.

The teams will continue their three-game SoCon series on Saturday, with the first pitch scheduled for 5 p.m. (CT). Fans can follow the game live online via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Saturday's Game