Feb. 23, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team plated 10 runs on 11 hits and seven Bulldog pitchers combined for a three-hit shutout in a 10-0, seven-inning win over Alabama A&M Wednesday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

Phillip Ervin led Samford at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, a home run and four RBI. Ervin's homer, the first of his collegiate career, came on a three-run shot in the bottom the seventh inning to give Samford a 10-0 lead and end the game. Gary Cramer went 2-for-3, while Tyler Filliben was 2-for-4 for the Bulldogs. Brandon Miller drove in two runs in a 1-for-3 performance.

Charles Basford (1-0) pitched 1.0 inning, giving up no hits and striking out three batters to earn the win for Samford. Gil Walker, Joseph Burns, Michael Gunter, Rumiko Forrester, Taylor Hammond and C.K. Irby pitched an inning each to combine for the shutout.

For Alabama A&M, Lamar Bridges, Manny Lora and Juan Lopez had one hit each. Eric Brandon (0-1) pitched 4.0 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits to take the loss for Alabama A&M.

Samford jumped on top early with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Michael Johnson and Kevin Putkonen both scored on wild pitches to give Samford the early 2-0 lead.

In the second inning, Samford added two more runs to make the score 4-0. Ervin doubled down the left-field line to drive in Stephen Ballard for the first run of the inning. Johnson then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Filliben for a four-run Samford lead.

Samford plated two runs in the fifth inning and another run in the sixth to push Samford's lead to 7-0. Miller doubled to center field to drive in Saxon Butler for the first run in the fifth inning. Miller later scored on a wild pitch for Samford's sixth run of the game. In the sixth inning, Miller hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Ervin for a seven-run Samford lead.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Ballard was hit by a pitch and Filliben singled through the right side of the infield. Filliben then advanced to second base and Ballard advanced to third base on a balk. Ervin then homered to left-center field to make the final score 10-0.

Samford improves to 5-0 with the win. Alabama A&M drops to 0-5 with the loss.

Samford will travel to Jacksonville, Fla., this weekend for a four-game series at Jacksonville University. The teams will open the series on Friday at 5 p.m. (CST). There will also be a doubleheader on Saturday at 12 p.m. (CST) and a single game on Sunday at 12 p.m. (CST). Friday's and Sunday's games can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.