Feb. 18, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team scored 16 runs and pounded out 17 hits on its way to a season-opening 16-8 win over Western Illinois Friday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

"It was good to get the first one," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "Thankfully we scored a bunch of runs. We really strung a lot of hits together in that first inning and, with the exception of the three innings in the middle, we really swung the bats well."

Junior first baseman Saxon Butler led Samford at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI. Senior second baseman Michael Johnson went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI, while senior third baseman Stephen Ballard was 2-for-4 with a double, a triple and five RBI. Senior designated hitter Gary Cramer was 3-for-4 at the plate in the season-opener.

Samford junior pitcher Josh Martin (1-0) earned the win on the mound, pitching 3.2 innings in relief, giving up just one earned run on four hits and striking out six batters. Sophomore Lex Rutledge started the game for Samford, tossing 2.1 innings, surrendering five runs on three hits and striking out four batters.

For Western Illinois, Matt Igara went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Anthony Kaskadden was 2-for-6 for the Leathernecks. Bryan Jordan hit the game's lone home run in a 1-for-5 performance. WIU's starting pitcher, Beau Below (0-1) pitched 1.0 inning, giving up nine runs on eight hits to take the loss.

After Western Illinois took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Samford came back with seven runs in the bottom of the first to take control of the game with a 7-1 lead. Ballard and Johnson drove in two runs each in the inning. Butler and Tyler Filliben drove in a run each, and Butler scored on a WIU wild pitch.

Samford added three more runs in the second inning to push its lead to 10-1. Gardner Richey drove in two runs and Butler drove in another to give Samford a nine-run lead.

Western Illinois got back in the game with five runs in the third inning and two more in the fifth to cut the Samford lead to 10-8. In the third inning, Jordan hit a two-run homer for the first two runs. Austin Cowen, Dan Dispensa and Igara drove in a run each in the third. In the fifth inning, Dispensa drove in another run and later scored when Jordan reached base on a Samford error to bring WIU to within two runs.

Samford, however, plated three runs in the sixth inning, two in the second inning and one in the eighth to pull away for the 16-8 win. Ballard drove in all three runs in the sixth inning with a bases-clearing double. In the seventh inning, Butler drove in both runs with a double. Richey drove in the run in the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly to finish the scoring.

The teams will continue their three-game series with a game Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Fans can follow the game live via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Saturday's Game