Feb. 19, 2012

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford's Saxon Butler, Brandon Miller and Austin Allison all hit home runs as the Bulldog baseball team defeated Radford, 12-2 in seven innings Sunday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

With the victory, Samford wins the series with Radford, two games to one. The Bulldogs are now 2-1 on the season, while the Highlanders are 1-2.

Radford jumped on top early with a run in the first inning, but Samford came back with nine runs in the first four innings to take control of the game.

"It was not the kind of start we wanted to the game, but our guys answered back," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "Yesterday, every inning that they scored, we failed to score behind it, so it was good to come back and get two in the first and answer their run."

Samford was led at the plate by Butler, going 3-for-3 with a home run, a double and two RBI. For the thee-game weekend series, Butler went 9-for-10 with two home runs, two doubles and four RBI.

Miller went 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. The home run was his second homer of the weekend as well. Allison was 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI in the game. Zeth Stone also went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI in the game for the Bulldogs.

Josh Martin (1-0) pitched 5.1 innings, giving up one run on seven hits to earn his first win of the season. Martin struck out four batters while allowing no walks.

"I thought Josh threw the ball well for his first time out this season." Dunn said. "It was good to see him get into the sixth. That was kind of the goal for our starters this week. We were going to give them around 75 pitches and we told them their goal was to finish five innings and try to get us into the sixth."

For Radford, Jeff Kemp led the way at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI. Ryan Burgess went 2-for-4 at the plate, and Matt Mack drove in a run in a 1-for-4 performance at the plate.

Keith Fritz (0-1) pitched 2.2 innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits to take the loss on the mound for the Highlanders.

Radford grabbed the early lead with a run in the top of the first inning. Kemp doubled with one out to get things going for the Highlanders. Kemp then went to third base when Matt Hillsinger reached base on a Samford error. Mack then singled to left field to drive in Kemp for a 1-0 Radford lead.

Samford came back to take the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Stone doubled to lead off the inning. With one out, Butler hit a home run to left field to make the score 2-1.

The Bulldogs added three runs in the second inning, two runs in the third and two more in the fourth to push their lead to 9-1. In the second inning, Stone and Miller drove in a run each, and Allison scored on a wild pitch. In the third inning, Brad Moss and Stone drove in a run each. Miller hit his two-run homer with Butler on base for the two runs in the fourth inning.

Radford added a run in the top of the seventh inning to cut the Samford lead to 9-2. Kemp singled with the bases loaded to drive in Carl Travers for the Highlanders' final run of the game.

The game was called after Samford plated three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the final score 12-2. Tyler Filliben walked to lead off the inning. With one out, Allison hit his first homer of the season to make the score 11-2. Tommy Corbin walked, Phillip Ervin singled and Butler walked to load the bases. Miller then walked to bring in Corbin for the game's final run.

For the game, Samford pounded out 15 hits, compared to nine hits for Radford. As a team, Samford had six extra-base hits in the win.

Samford will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 21, when the Bulldogs play host to Alabama A&M. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field.