April 1, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team plated seven runs in the last three innings to take an 8-5 Southern Conference win in the first game of a three-game series against Davidson Friday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

"This was a good job by our guys of continuing to put good at-bats together and answering their runs late," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "It was a back-and-forth game. I told our pitchers, we didn't necessarily pitch poorly, I just thought they swung the bats well and I think the same can be said for their guys."

Samford was led at the plate by Tyler Filliben, Saxon Butler and Brad Moss, each going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Michael Johnson was 2-for-5 for the Bulldogs, while Brandon Miller hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season, going 1-for-4 with two RBI. Phillip Ervin's 19-game hitting streak came to an end with his 0-for-2 performance.

C.K. Irby (2-1) earned the win on the mound for Samford, pitching 1.1 innings, giving up a run on three hits. Andrew Jones picked up his sixth save of the season, pitching the final 1.1 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out three batters. Kyle Putkonen started the game on the mound for Samford and pitched 6.0 strong innings, giving up two runs and striking out six batters while walking none.

For Davidson, Drew Gadaire went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI, while Seth Freeman was 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Forrest Brandt and Danny Weiss each added two hits for the Wildcats. Mike Frongello (3-2) pitched 1.1 innings in relief, giving up two runs on one hit to take the loss for Davidson.

Samford got on the scoreboard first with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Moss doubled to lead off the inning. Johnson then reached base on a bunt single and advanced to second on a Davidson error, allowing Moss to score to give Samford a 1-0 lead.

Davidson took the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Gadaire homered to left-center field with Brandt on base for a 2-1 Wildcat lead.

The Bulldogs came back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 4-2 lead. After Butler singled with one out, Miller hit a home run to left field for the first two runs in the inning. Tommy Corbin later doubled to right field to drive in Brandon Powell for a two-run Samford lead.

The Wildcats tied the score with two runs in the top of the seventh inning. Freeman hit a home run to left field with Michael Zeblo on base to tie the score at 4-4.

Samford took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. After Ervin walked and then stole second base, Butler doubled to right field to drive in Ervin to give Samford a 5-4 lead. Butler later scored from third base on a passed ball to make the score 6-4.

Davidson plated a run in the top of the eighth inning to cut the Samford lead to 6-5. Andre Barna singled up the middle to drive in Brandt to bring the Wildcats to within one run.

Samford finished the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 8-5. Filliben tripled to right field to drive in pinch-runner Matt Frederick to make the score 7-5. Moss then reached on a bunt single to drive in Filliben for the game's final run.

With the win, Samford improves to 18-10 overall and 7-3 in Southern Conference play. Davidson drops to 12-13 overall and 5-7 in league play.

Samford and Davidson will continue their SoCon series with a game Saturday at 2 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. The game can also be viewed online via the Bulldog Big Screen at www.samfordsports.com. Fans can follow the game online via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Saturday's Game