May 10, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford freshman center fielder Phillip Ervin singled down the right-field line to drive in Michael Johnson with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Bulldog baseball team a 9-8 win over Auburn Tuesday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

The win marked Samford's first extra-inning win of the season and the team's first walk-off win of the year. The Bulldogs improve to 30-19 with the win, while Auburn drops to 25-23 with the loss. The win was Samford's second over Auburn this season and its third over a Southeastern Conference opponent this year.

Ervin went 2-for-2 with two RBI for Samford at the plate. Saxon Butler was 3-for-3 with a home run and four RBI for the Bulldogs. Johnson went 3-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI.

Andrew Jones (1-3) pitched the final 2.0 innings, giving up no runs on two hits and striking out two batters to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Jones was the last of six pitchers used by Samford in the game. Joshua VanFleteren started the game for the Bulldogs, pitching 3.0 innings, giving up three runs on six hits. C.K. Irby, Lex Rutledge, Joseph Burns and Arthur Strauss also saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs.

"It was a big win for us, we played well tonight," Jones said. "We hit the ball well and we should take away confidence from that. Confidence is big at this time of year, because right now, everyone is starting to get tired, but if you have confidence in your ability to get the job done, that really goes a long way."

For Auburn at the plate, Justin Fradejas went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple and three RBI. Tony Caldwell went 3-for-5 with an RBI, while Cullen Wacker was 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Casey McElroy went 2-for-5 for the Tigers.

Auburn's Ethan Wallen (4-5) pitched the final 2.0 innings, allowing one run on one hit to take the loss for the Tigers. Bradley Hendrix was Auburn's starting pitcher, tossing 3.2 innings, giving up seven runs on seven hits. Will Kendall and Jay Wade also pitched in the game for the Tigers.

With one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, Johnson struck out swinging, but reached base on an Auburn wild pitch. Johnson then moved to second base when Brad Moss grounded out to shortstop. After Auburn intentionally walked Butler, Ervin delivered the game-winning single, driving in Johnson for the 9-8 win.

Samford struck first in the game with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. After Moss walked with one out in the inning, Butler hit a home run to left field, his ninth homer of the season, to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

Auburn came back with two runs in the top of the second inning to tie the score at 2-2. Wacker hit a two-run home run with Kevin Patterson on base to put Auburn's first two runs on the scoreboard.

The Tigers took the lead with a run in the top of the third inning. Wes Gilmer singled to drive in Fradejas to give Auburn a 3-2 lead.

Samford answered with two runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth to take a 7-3 lead.

In the third inning, Kevin Putkonen singled to left field to drive in Butler and Moss to give Samford a 4-3 lead.

In the fourth inning, Johnson doubled to drive in Tripp Swann for the first run of the inning. Butler later singled up the middle to drive in Johnson for a three-run Samford lead. Ervin then singled to right field to drive in Moss to make the score 7-3.

Auburn cut the Samford lead to 7-4 with a run in the top of the sixth inning. Patterson hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Caldwell to bring Auburn to within three runs.

Samford plated a run of its own in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 8-4. Butler singled to right field to drive in Johnson for a four-run Samford lead.

Auburn scored three runs in the seventh inning and one run in the eighth inning to tie the score at 8-8.

Rutledge walked Justin Hargett and Brooks Beisner to lead off the seventh inning and then both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch. Fradejas then doubled to right field to drive in Beisner and Hargett to make the score 8-6. Caldwell later doubled to right field to drive in Fradejas to bring Auburn to within one run.

With two outs in the eighth inning, Fradejas tripled down the right-field line to drive in Hargett, who had singled earlier in the inning, to tie the score at 8-8. The teams remained tied until the bottom of the 10th inning.

Samford will return to action on Friday, May 13, when the Bulldogs play host to Wofford in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference series. The teams will play Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.