May 13, 2011

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team earned a 7-1 Southern Conference win over Wofford in the first game of a three-game weekend series Friday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

Samford's Charles Basford (6-4) pitched 7.0 innings, giving up one run on four hits and striking out three batters to earn the win on the mound for the Bulldogs. Andrew Jones pitched the final 1.2 innings in relief to set a new Samford single-season record with his 12th save of the season.

After falling behind 1-0 in the fourth inning, Samford plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth, a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth to pull away for the six-run victory.

"It was a good job by Charles tonight to give us seven strong innings," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "Obviously, the four-run inning was huge for us after they took the lead. But what we shouldn't lose sight of are the three late runs we scored. We had some big hits late and some good at-bats late."

Samford was led at the plate by Phillip Ervin, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI. Brandon Miller went 2-for-3 with an RBI, while Michael Johnson went 2-for-5 with an RBI for the Bulldogs.

Wofford's Cash Collins (8-3) pitched 6.1 innings, giving up five runs on nine hits to take the loss for the Terriers. Landon Bennett drove in Wofford's lone run of the game, going 1-for-3 at the plate.

Wofford struck first in the game with a run in the top of the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead. Bennett singled up the middle to drive in Josh McKinney for the game's first run.

Samford took the lead for good with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brad Moss singled to lead off the inning and later scored on an infield single by Miller for Samford's first run of the game. Ervin later doubled to drive in Saxon Butler to give Samford a 2-1 lead. Miller scored the third run of the inning on a ground out by Kevin Putkonen. Ervin scored the final run of the inning on a single by C.K. Irby to give the Bulldogs a 4-1 lead.

Samford added a run in the seventh inning to push its lead to 5-1. Ervin singled to center field to drive in Johnson for a four-run Samford lead.

The Bulldogs plated two final runs in the eighth inning to make the final score 7-1. Irby reached base on an error to lead off the inning and later scored when Tyler Filliben reached base on a fielder's choice for the first run of the inning. Johnson later doubled to right field to drive in Filliben for the game's final run.

Jones came in to get the final two outs in the eighth inning with Samford leading, 5-1 and runners on first and second base. He then sat the Terriers down in order in the ninth inning to earn the save. Jones' 12 saves breaks the record of 11 set by Joseph Edens in 2006, and tied by Edens in 2007 and Lex Rutledge in 2010.

With the win, Samford improves to 31-19 overall and 15-10 in Southern Conference play. Wofford drops to 21-29 overall and 8-17 in league play.

Samford and Wofford will play again 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. Fans can also follow the game online via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Saturday's Game