March 18, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford's Saxon Butler hit a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Bulldog baseball team to a 5-4 Southern Conference win over Georgia Southern Friday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

With Samford trailing, 4-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, back-to-back walks to Brad Moss and Michael Johnson started the rally. Phillip Ervin then reached base on a GSU error to load the bases. Butler then hit a grand slam to left-center field to give Samford the 5-4 lead.

"It was a great at-bat by Saxon," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "He did a good job of not trying to do too much and just hitting it where it was pitched."

Kyle Putkonen (4-1) pitched 8.0 strong innings, giving up four runs, just one earned, on six hits, striking out nine batters while walking just three. Andrew Jones pitched the final inning to earn his fourth save of the season.

"The key to the win was Kyle Putkonen being able to give us eight innings," Dunn said. "He fought off a slow start to give us eight innings and help us get a big win."

Butler was 1-for-4 at the plate in the win. Brandon Miller was 1-for-3 with a home run and an RBI. Ervin and Moss had a hit each for the Bulldogs as well.

For Georgia Southern, Matt Murray (3-1) took the loss, pitching 1.0 inning and giving up two runs on one hit. Starting pitcher Chris Beck pitched 7.0 innings, giving up three runs on three hits.

Michael Burruss went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI for the Eagles. Ben Morgan was 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Brent Pugh also had an RBI for Georgia Southern.

Georgia Southern jumped out to a 4-0 lead with a run in the second inning, a run in the third inning and two more runs in the fourth inning.

Morgan singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Andy Moye for the run in the second inning. In the third inning, Steve Cochrane doubled with two outs and later scored on a Samford error to make the score 2-0. In the fourth inning, Tom Richardson scored the first run of the inning when Pugh reached base on a Samford error. Burruss later doubled down the left field line to drive in Morgan for a four-run GSU lead.

Samford put its first run of the game on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning. With two outs in the inning, Miller homered to left field to cut the GSU lead to 4-1.

After Butler's grand slam in the bottom of the eighth gave Samford the lead, Jones held the Eagles scoreless in the top of the ninth inning to preserve the win.

With the win, which was the Bulldogs' sixth-straight victory, Samford improves to 14-6 overall and 4-0 in Southern Conference play. Georgia Southern falls to 11-8 overall and 3-1 in SoCon play.

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

GameTracker For Saturday's Game