April 1, 2011
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford softball team will take on Southern Conference No. 2 Georgia Southern this weekend in Statesboro, Ga. The Bulldogs and Eagles will face off in a 12 p.m. CT doubleheader on Saturday and a single game at noon on Sunday.
Georgia Southern leads the series with Samford, 15-8, having dominated the first nine games of the series. The Eagles won four in a row at the start of the series in 1988 and 1989 before Samford notched its first win against GSU in 1989. The Eagles followed with four more wins before Samford split a series in 1997. The Bulldogs and Eagles split a pair of games again in 2001 before Samford swept two games from GSU in 2007.
The year before the Bulldogs joined the Southern Conference, they dropped a game to GSU in tournament play. In 2009, GSU took two of three from Samford in the teams' first SoCon meeting and then knocked them out of the semifinals of the conference tournament. Last season, the Bulldogs got the series win at home, taking two of three, and they hope to grab their third league series win of the season this weekend over the Eagles.
The Bulldogs were supposed to kick off a seven-game road trip Thursday at Belmont, but the doubleheader was washed out due to inclement weather. So, this weekend's series will start the front half of Samford's road swing.
Currently, GSU ranks second in the SoCon standings with a 7-2 record in league play and an overall record of 17-20. The Bulldogs jumped to sixth place after last weekend's action, and they hold a 4-5 conference record and a 7-27 record overall.
Samford continues to be led at the plate by Robyn Harmon. Harmon holds a .351 batting average and leads the team in runs with 15 and hits with 26. She is also the team's best slugger, boasting a .581 slugging percentage, 11 RBI, four doubles, two triples and three home runs. Amanda Jordan follows with a .421 slugging percentage. She leads the team in RBI with 13 and home runs with six. Whitney Terry is also batting .333 and Lakan Smith follows with a.309 average, three doubles and a home run.
In the pitching circle, Kayla Burris (4-11) is the Bulldogs' strikeout leader with 56 in 94.1 innings of work. Emily Waters (0-2) holds a team-low 4.75 ERA while Nicole Bobrowski (2-5) boasts a 4.84 ERA and holds opponents to a team-low .299 batting average.
GSU has won six of its last 10 contests, including a sweep of Western Carolina and a series win over College of Charleston last weekend. The Eagles also started conference play with a series win over Appalachian State.
Marie Fogle, a two-time SoCon Offensive Player of the Week, leads the Eagles at the plate. Fogle is batting .392 and boasts a .792 slugging percentage. She has brought in 23 runs on 47 hits, including seven doubles, one triple and 11 home runs. She also has scored a team-high 28 runs.
Allie Miles leads GSU in the circle with an 8-6 record and a 3.32 ERA. She has pitched four complete games, including two shut outs, and she boasts 94 strikeouts in 82.1 innings of work. She currently holds opponents to a .220 collective batting average.
The Bulldogs will start play with the Eagles on Saturday at noon followed by the second game of the doubleheader approximately 30 minutes after the first game is over. The series finale will be on Sunday at noon. A full recap and final statistics will be posted on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of each day's action.
