April 3, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford pitcher Charles Basford pitched 7.2 strong innings, giving up one run on six hits to lead the Bulldog baseball team to a 4-1 Southern Conference win in the final game of the team's three-game series with Davidson, Sunday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

"What a great job," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "He (Basford) gave up the one home run in the first and then a bunch of zeros after that. It was really just a good job of competing and going longer than he has in a while. On a day when we needed to shorten the game with our bullpen, because we used so many guys yesterday, he was able to get us into the eighth, and obviously it was just a great job by him."

In the win, Basford (3-2) tied a career high with seven strike outs, while allowing just three walks. Andrew Jones earned his seventh save of the season, pitching the final inning to seal the win.

For Samford at the plate, Brandon Miller led the way, going 2-for-2 with a home run and two RBI. The home run was his team-leading ninth of the season, and he has now homered in four of the last five games. Phillip Ervin and Gary Cramer drove in a run each for the Bulldogs as well.

Davidson's Ryan Overcash (1-2) pitched 4.1 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits to take the loss. Drew Gadaire drove in the Wildcats' lone run of the game, going 1-for-3 with a home run.

Davidson jumped on top first with a run in the top of the first inning. With two outs in the inning, Gadaire hit a solo home run to left field to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.

Samford came back with two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-1 lead. Ervin singled with one out and then moved to third base on a double by Saxon Butler. Miller singled to drive in Ervin to tie the score. Cramer then singled to drive in Butler to give Samford the lead for good.

The Bulldogs added to their lead with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Miller led the inning off with a solo home run to left field to push Samford's lead to 3-1.

Samford extended its lead again with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Brad Moss doubled to lead off the inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ervin to make the score 4-1.

With the win, Samford improves to 19-11 overall and 8-4 in Southern Conference play. Davidson drops to 13-14 overall and 6-8 in league play.

Samford will return to action on Tuesday, April 5, when the Bulldogs play at Alabama. The game is scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. start, and it can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.