April 18, 2010

Box Score

STATESBORO, Ga. - The Samford baseball team's late comeback fell just short as the Bulldogs dropped a 12-9 Southern Conference decision at Georgia Southern Sunday afternoon at J.I. Clements Stadium.

The win gives Georgia Southern the series sweep over Samford. The Bulldogs drop to 21-14 overall and 11-4 in SoCon play. The Eagles improve to 21-15 overall and 12-6 in league play.

Samford was led at the plate by Michael Johnson, going 3-for-5. Gary Cramer was 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Mason Meredeth and Gardner Richey had two hits each for Samford. Freshman infielder Tommy Corbin hit a solo home run in the game for his first collegiate hit.

Josh Martin pitched 1.1 innings, giving up four runs, just two earned, on three hits to take the loss and drop to 2-4 on the season. Andrew Jones, Michael Gunter, Tyler Vanderheiden, Mark Lewallyn and Lex Rutledge all saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs as well.

Victor Roache led Georgia Southern at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Eric Phillips and A.J. Wirnsberger had two hits each for the Eagles.

Andy Moye pitched 7.0 innings, giving up three runs on 10 hits to get the win and improve to 5-3 on the season. Dexter Bobo earned his sixth save of the season and third of the weekend, pitching the final 1.1 innings, allowing no hits and striking out two batters.

Georgia Southern plated a run in the first inning, three runs in the second, four runs in the third and two more in the fourth to race out to a 10-0 lead. After Samford got its first run of the game in the top of the fifth innings, GSU added two more in the bottom of the sixth to push its lead to 12-1.

Samford plated eight runs in the top of the eighth inning to cut the lead to 12-9. The inning was highlighted by back-to-back home runs by Cramer and Corbin. Cramer hit a three-run shot, his first of the season, with Meredeth and David Schulze on base. Corbin followed with a solo shot to left field.

In addition to the two home runs in the eighth inning, Stephen Ballard and Schulze also drove in a run for the Bulldogs. Johnson and Brad Moss both scored on a Georgia Southern error in the eighth as well.

Samford, however, was unable to get any runs in the ninth inning as the Bulldogs fell by a score of 12-9.

Samford will play two midweek games this week. The Bulldogs will play at cross-town rival UAB Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m., and the Bulldogs will play host to the Blazers Wednesday night at 6 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

The Bulldogs' next Southern Conference series will be next weekend at home against Appalachian State. The Bulldogs and the Mountaineers will play Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday, again at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.