April 30, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team jumped out to an early five-run lead and held on late for a 7-5 Southern Conference win over league-leading The Citadel Friday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

"This was a heck of a job by our players of getting off to a good start," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "This was just a complete job by our guys against a good pitcher."

With the win, Samford improves to 24-17 overall and 12-6 in SoCon play. Samford stands in third place in the league standings, but the Bulldogs close the gap between Samford and The Citadel to three and a half games. The Citadel drops to 28-16 overall and 16-3 in league play.

Samford was led at the plate by Gary Cramer, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Wayne Miller and Trey Hayes each went 2-for-4 at the plate. David Schulze drove in two runs in a 1-for-3 performance, extending his hitting streak to 17 games.

Samford's Jonathan Stephens pitched 5.2 innings, giving up five runs, only four earned, on seven hits to earn the win and improve to 6-1 on the season. Andrew Jones pitched 1.2 innings, allowing two hits and then Lex Rutledge tossed the final 1.2 innings, allowing just one hit to earn his eighth save of the season.

For The Citadel at the plate, David Greene went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and all five of the team's RBI. Bryan Altman went 3-for-4 for The Citadel. Asher Wojciechowski pitched 7.0 innings, giving up seven runs, only five earned, on 10 hits to take the loss and drop his season record to 8-2.

Samford jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs in the inning, Bo Smith singled to right field to drive in Miller for the first run of the game. Schulze later scored from third base when Hayes reached on an error by The Citadel. Cramer then singled to right field to drive in Smith for a 3-0 Samford lead.

The Citadel put its first run on the board in the top of the second inning. Altman scored from third base when Greene reached base on a Samford error to make the score 3-1.

Samford plated two more runs in the bottom of the second inning to push its lead to 5-1. Schulze doubled down the right-field line to drive in Mason Meredeth and Miller for a four-run Samford lead.

Samford added another run in the third inning for a 6-1 lead. Michael Johnson hit a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in Hayes for Samford's sixth run of the contest.

The Citadel plated a run in the top of the fifth inning to cut the Samford lead to 6-2. Greene led off the inning with a solo home run to left-center field.

Samford answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 7-2. Hayes scored from third base when Johnson grounded into a double play for a five-run Samford lead.

The Citadel came back with three runs in the sixth inning to cut the Samford lead to 7-5. After Jones entered the game for Stephens with the bases loaded and two outs, Greene doubled to left-center field to clear the bases and drive in Kyle Jordan, Altman and Brad Felder.

Jones got the next batter, Legare Jones, to ground out to third base to end the threat. Jones and Rutledge held The Citadel scoreless for the final three innings to close out the win.

Samford and The Citadel will continue their three-game SoCon series with a game Saturday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. The game can be viewed online via the Bulldog Big Screen at www.samfordsports.com. Fans can also follow the game online via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Saturday's Game