April 21, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team plated nine runs in its final three innings to overcome a six-run deficit and claim an 11-10 win over cross-town rival UAB Wednesday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

Wednesday night's game was played in front of 1,843 fans, the third-largest crowd in Joe Lee Griffin Field history.

The win gives Samford (23-14) the series sweep over UAB (20-17). The Bulldogs earned an 8-1 win over the Blazers Tuesday night at Young Memorial Field.

"Coming back like this shows the resiliency of our guys," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "It was good to come back and get a big win like this. I was proud of our guys for hanging in there and fighting back."

Stephen Ballard, Bo Smith and Davis Harrison each homered in the win for Samford. Smith was 3-for-4 with three RBI, while Ballard went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Harrison went 2-for-3 with an RBI. David Schulze also had two hits for Samford, going 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Tyler Vanderheiden pitched 1.2 innings of hitless relief to earn the win and improve to 1-0 on the season. Andrew Jones got the Blazers out in order in the ninth inning to earn his first save of the season. In all, Samford used seven pitchers in the game. Kyle Putkonen, Tripp Swann, Mark Lewallyn, Michael Gunter and Rumiko Forrester also saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs.

For UAB, Jamal Austin went 3-for-4 with a home run and an RBI to lead the Blazers at the plate. Luke Stewart and Jacob German also homered for UAB. Ryan Woolley pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief, giving up three runs on two hits to take the loss and drop to 2-4 on the season.

Samford trailed, 8-2, heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. The Bulldogs plated four runs in the sixth to cut the Blazers' lead to 8-6. Schulze singled to right field to drive in Michael Johnson with the first run of the inning. Smith then homered to right field with Schulze and Mason Meredeth on base to bring Samford to within two runs.

UAB added two runs in the top of the seventh inning to push its lead back to four runs at 10-6. Jonathan Merritt scored on a wild pitch and John Frost scored on a Samford error.

Samford answered with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 10-8. Harrison and Ballard each hit solo home runs in the inning for the Bulldogs.

Samford plated three final runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take an 11-10 lead. Schulze walked and then moved to third base on a double by Smith. Trey Hayes then reached base on an infield single to drive in Schulze and make the score 10-9. The game-tying run was scored when Austin Allison walked with the bases loaded to drive in Smith. Johnson then hit a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in Hayes with the game-winning run.

Jones came in to pitch the ninth inning, setting the Blazers down in order. Jones struck out Merritt, Frost and Stewart to close out the game.

Samford will return to action on Friday, April 23, when the Bulldogs open their Southern Conference series with Appalachian State. The teams will play Friday at 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, both at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.