May 27, 2010

Samford vs. Elon Photo Gallery
Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Elon pinch-runner David Wood stole third base and then scored on a Samford error in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the fourth-seeded Phoenix baseball team to a 1-0 win over fifth-seeded Samford in the first round of the Southern Conference Baseball Tournament Wednesday evening at Joseph P. Riley Park.

Both starting pitchers turned in outstanding performances. Samford starter Jonathan Stephens allowed no runs on five hits and struck out a career-high nine batters in 7.0 innings of work. Elon's Jimmy Reyes pitched the complete game, allowing no runs on six hits and striking out nine batters to earn the win and improve to 10-3 on the season.

"These were two great efforts by two outstanding college pitchers," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "They took advantage of an opportunity there at the end. There were a lot of hard-hit balls, both ways and this was a great defensive game for both teams. It was just one of those things where it came down to kind of a fluke play and they were on the positive side of it."

Samford's Andrew Jones was charged with the game's lone run, an unearned run, to take the loss and drop his record to 5-3 this season.

The teams were scoreless through the first eight and a half innings. Ryan Adams led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a double down the left-field line. Wood then entered the game as a pinch-runner for Adams.

After Scott Riddle walked, Lex Rutledge entered the game to replace Jones. Rutledge got pinch-hitter Matt Kirchner to pop out for the first out of the inning. Wood then stole second and the throw to third base by Samford catcher Brad Moss sailed over the head of third baseman Mason Meredeth, allowing Wood to score and giving Elon the 1-0 win.

With the loss, Samford drops to 30-24 on the season, while Elon improves to 37-20. Samford will now take on Furman in an elimination game Thursday at 12 p.m. (CDT). Elon will take on The Citadel in a winner's bracket game at 4 p.m. (CDT).

Samford was led at the plate by Michael Johnson, going 2-for-4. David Schulze extended his season-long hit streak to 24 games with a 1-for-4 performance. Meredeth, Trey Hayes and Moss had one hit each for the Bulldogs.

For Elon at the plate, Riddle went 2-for-3. Harry Austin, Niko Fraser, Mike Melillo, Neal Pritchard and Adams had one hit apiece for the Phoenix.

Thursday's game against eighth-seeded Furman can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.