March 24, 2012

Box Score

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Samford baseball team built a six-run lead in the second inning and held on late for an 11-10 win in game two of a Southern Conference series at Wofford Saturday afternoon.

"The only positive thing I can say is we won the game," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "But, we'll take a conference win on the road and we'll take winning a series on Saturday. Now we'll come back tomorrow and try and regroup."

With the win, Samford improves to 15-8 overall and 6-2 in Southern Conference play. The Bulldogs have secured the series win as the Bulldogs defeated the Terriers, 5-0, Friday evening. Wofford drops to 9-14 overall and 0-5 in league play.

Samford was led at the plate by Phillip Ervin, going 3-for-3 with a home run and five RBI. C.K. Irby went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBI. Saxon Butler and Austin Allison each went 2-for-5 for the Bulldogs.

Joseph Burns (1-0) pitched 3.0 innings in relief, giving up no runs on two hits and striking out three batters to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Irby pitched the final 1.1 innings without allowing a hit to pick up his fourth save of the season.

For Wofford at the plate, James Plaisted went 3-for-4 to lead the Terriers at the plate. Eric Brenk went 2-for-3 with two RBI, while Matt Moore and Matthew Kaskow had two hits and an RBI each.

Cash Collins (1-4) pitched 1.1 innings, allowing eight runs on three hits to take the loss for Wofford. Collins walked five batters and struck out none in the loss.

Samford got off to a fast start, plating five runs in the top of the first inning. Zeth Stone reached base on an error, Brad Moss walked and Butler reached on another error to load the bases. Brandon Miller then walked to bring home Stone for the game's first run. Ervin then walked to score Moss for a 2-0 Samford lead. Irby then doubled down the left-field line to drive in Butler, Miller and Ervin to make the score 5-0.

Wofford came back with two runs in the bottom of the first inning to cut the Samford lead to 5-2. James Foster led the inning off with a single. Konstantine Diamaduros then homered to center field for Wofford's first two runs of the day.

The Bulldogs added three runs in the top of the second inning to push their lead to 8-2. With one out in the inning, Moss walked, Butler singled and Miller walked to load the bases. Ervin then singled up the middle to drive in Moss to make the score 6-2. Butler then scored on a wild pitch and Miller later scored on a sacrifice fly by Irby for a six-run Samford lead.

The Terriers plated two runs in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 8-4. Mac Doyle doubled to lead off the inning. Josh Hyman then doubled to drive in Doyle for the first run of the inning. Hyman later scored from third base on a sacrifice bunt by Brenk.

Wofford added three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the Samford lead to 8-7. Hyman was hit by a pitch and Plaisted and David Roney recorded back-to-back hits to load the bases with no outs. A sacrifice fly by Brenk scored Hyman for the first run of the inning. Moore then singled to drive in Plaisted. Roney scored the final run of the inning on a single by Kaskow.

Samford plated three more runs in the top of the sixth inning to make the score 11-7. Butler and Miller led the inning off with back-to-back singles. Ervin then hit a home run to left field to give Samford a four-run lead.

Wofford added three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to cut the Samford lead to 11-10, but Samford was able to hold on for the win. Luke Feisal doubled to center field to drive in Plaisted and Hyman for the first two runs in the inning. Brenk then singled and advanced to second base on an error, with Feisal scoring an unearned run on the error to bring the Terriers to within one run.

The teams will conclude the three-game series with a game Sunday at 12 p.m. (CT). 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 via GameTracker on Samford's official athletics website, www.samfordsports.com.