March 24, 2011

Baseball Game Notes In PDF Format
Live Broadcast

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team will travel to Elon, N.C., to take on the Elon Phoenix in a key early-season Southern Conference series this weekend. The teams will play Friday at 5:30 p.m. (CT), Saturday at 3 p.m. (CT) and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. (CT).

Elon currently leads the SoCon with a 6-0 league record. Samford enters the weekend tied with UNC Greensboro for second in the conference standings at 5-1.

The Bulldogs have an overall record of 15-8. Samford is coming off a 3-0 midweek loss at Ole Miss. The Bulldogs won two-of-three games in their last SoCon series last weekend against Georgia Southern.

Samford is led at the plate by Phillip Ervin, batting .414 (29-for-70) with six doubles and seven RBI. Michael Johnson is batting .381 (32-for-84) with 12 RBI. Saxon Butler, who was named both the SoCon Player of the Week and National Hitter of the Week, leads the team in RBI with 24. Brandon Miller is the team leader in home runs with five.

Samford is scheduled to start Kyle Putkonen (4-1, 2.02 ERA) on the mound in Friday's series-opener. Lex Rutledge (4-1, 2.93 ERA) will start for Samford on Saturday, while Charles Basford (2-1, 3.66 ERA) will get the starting nod on the mound on Sunday.

The Phoenix currently have an overall record of 15-8. Elon dropped two midweek games at Clemson this week. Last weekend, the Phoenix swept a SoCon series from Western Carolina.

Elon is led at the plate by Jake Luce, batting .375 (30-for-80) with nine doubles and 12 RBI. Neal Pritchard has a batting average of .328 (20-for-61) with three home runs and 13 RBI. Niko Fraser leads the Phoenix in RBI with 20 so far this season.

Kyle Webb (2-0, 2.97 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday's game on the mound for the Phoenix. Saturday's starting pitcher for Elon will be Ken Ferrer (3-0, 2.84 ERA). Elon has not decided on a starting pitcher for Sunday's series finale.

Samford and Elon have met eight previous times, with the Phoenix holding a 7-1 advantage in the series. Last season, the teams met five times, with Elon winning four of those meetings. Elon won two of the three regular season meetings, and the Phoenix defeated the Bulldogs twice in the SoCon Tournament by scores of 1-0 and 7-4.

All three of Samford's games can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. Fans can also follow the games online via GameTracker at the links below.

GameTracker For Friday's Game

GameTracker For Saturday's Game

GameTracker For Sunday's Game