March 1, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-- The Samford baseball team used strong pitching and an impressive defensive performance to earn a 6-1 win over in-state rival Troy Tuesday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

Five Samford pitchers combined to hold Troy to just one run on six hits. Three Samford players belted home runs and the Bulldog defense made several big plays and turned in an errorless performance.

"This was a great job by our guys," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "Defensively we made plays. All of our pitchers did a heck of a job. It was just a great night all around. Hopefully this is something that will show a little bit about the type of team we have, taking a tough weekend and then coming back against a really good Troy team and getting a big win."

With the win, Samford improves to 6-4 on the season. The Bulldogs are 6-0 at home, with their only losses coming last weekend at Jacksonville. Troy drops to 6-2 with the loss.

Samford's Saxon Butler, Brandon Miller and Gardner Richey each homered in the win. Miller's home run was a three-run shot in the fifth inning, with Butler's and Richey's both being solo homers. Michael Johnson went 2-for-4 at the plate, while Phillip Ervin was 2-for-5 for the Bulldogs.

Charles Basford (2-0) pitched 6.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits, and striking out seven batters while walking just two. Joseph Burns, Tyler Vanderheiden, Andrew Jones and C.K. Irby split the final 2.1 innings of work.

For Troy at the plate, Tyson Workman and Josh McDorman both went 2-for-3. Jimmy Hodgskin (0-1) pitched 4.0 innings, surrendering two runs on three hits, and striking out eight batters and walking four for the Trojans.

Samford got on the scoreboard first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Butler hit a solo home run to right-center field, his first homer of the season, to give Samford a 1-0 lead.

Troy answered with a run in the top of the third inning to tie the score at 1-1. Adam Bryant hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in McDorman, who had singled up the middle to lead off the inning, for Troy's lone run of the game.

Samford took the lead for good with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brandon Powell singled up the middle to drive in Christiaan Durdaller to give Samford a 2-1 lead. Durdaller had earlier walked with one out and then stole second to move into scoring position.

The Bulldogs plated three runs in the fifth inning to push their lead to 5-1. After Johnson and Ervin had both singled, Miller hit his second home run of the season to left field to give Samford a four-run lead.

Samford put another run on the scoreboard in the seventh inning to make the final score 6-1. With two outs Richey blasted his fourth home run of the season to left field for the game's final run.

Samford will return to action on Friday when the Bulldogs play host to Toledo to open a three-game weekend series at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Friday's series-opener is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start. The teams will also play Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.