May 2, 2010

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford senior center fielder Wayne Miller singled up the middle to drive in two runs and cap a four-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Bulldog baseball team a thrilling 12-11 Southern Conference win over league-leading The Citadel Sunday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

The win, which came after a rain delay of over an hour in the bottom of the ninth, gives Samford the series win, two games to one, marking the first time The Citadel has lost a conference series this season. Samford improves to 25-18 overall and 13-7 in SoCon play with the win. The Citadel drops to 29-17 overall and 17-4 in league play.

Samford trailed, 11-8 entering the bottom of the ninth inning after The Citadel had plated five runs in the top of the ninth to take the lead. Mason Meredeth led the inning off with a single and advanced to second base on a Citadel error. Meredeth moved to third base on a fly out by David Schulze. Bo Smith and Trey Hayes then walked to load the bases. With two outs, Michael Johnson walked to drive in Meredeth to make the score 11-9.

After a pitching change by The Citadel, Samford sent Tripp Swann into the game as a pinch hitter. The players were then pulled off the field due to lightning in the area. The weather delay lasted for an hour and 12 minutes. When play resumed, Swann walked to drive in Smith to make it an 11-10 game. With an 0-2 count, Miller singled up the middle to drive in Johnson and Hayes for the walk-off win.

"What a way to end a game," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "For Wayne to get an 0-2, two-out hit like that was big. It was just a huge hit at what couldn't have been a bigger time."

Samford had led, 8-6, entering the top of the ninth, but The Citadel scored five runs in the top of the ninth to take the 11-8 lead. Four of the five runs came on a grand slam by David Greene. Bryan Altman also had an RBI single earlier in the inning to start the rally.

Samford was led at the plate by Hayes, going 3-for-4 with a home run, a triple and three RBI. Johnson was 2-for-4 with four RBI. Meredeth, Schulze, Smith and Gary Cramer had two hits each for Samford. Schulze extended his current hitting streak to 19 games, the longest on the team this season. Miller was 1-for-6 with two RBI in the game.

Andrew Jones pitched the final 1.2 innings, giving up five runs on five hits to earn the win and improve to 4-1 on the season. Josh Martin started the game on the mound for Samford, pitching 5.0 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits. Lex Rutledge pitched 2.1 innings in relief, giving up one unearned run on four hits.

For The Citadel, Greene hit a grand slam and had five RBI in a 1-for-5 performance at the plate. Matt Simonelli was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Altman, Justin Mackert and William Ladd had three hits each for The Citadel, while Brad Felder and Kyle Jordan had two hits each.

Drew Mahaffey pitched 1.2 innings in relief for The Citadel, giving up four runs on two hits to take the loss and drop his season record to 2-3.

After The Citadel scored a run in the top of the second inning to take an early lead, Samford came back with two runs in the bottom of the second to take a 2-1 lead. Smith doubled to left-center field to drive in Schulze for the game-tying run. Johnson later doubled to left-center to drive in Smith to give Samford the lead.

Samford added two runs in the fourth inning and three more in the fifth to push its lead to 7-1. Johnson doubled to right field to drive in Hayes and Smith for the two runs in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Hayes hit a three-run homer to right field with Schulze and Meredeth on base to give Samford a six-run lead.

The Citadel fought back with five runs in the top of the sixth inning to cut the Samford lead to 7-6. Simonelli hit a two-run homer to left-center field for the first two runs of the inning. Greene and Ladd also had an RBI each in the inning, and Grant Richards scored on a Samford error to pull The Citadel to within one run.

Samford added a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to push its lead to 8-6. Cramer doubled to left-center field to drive in Hayes to give Samford a two-run lead and set the stage for the decisive ninth inning.

Samford will return to action on Friday, May 7, when the Bulldogs open a three-game Southern Conference series at Wofford. The first pitch for Friday's series-opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT) in Spartanburg, S.C.