April 25, 2012

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford shortstop Austin Allison went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and two RBI to lead the Bulldog baseball team to a 9-2 win at cross-town rival UAB Wednesday evening at Young Memorial Field.

"That was a huge night for Austin," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "He's a guy who really had been struggling until Sunday. But he had a good day Sunday for us and then another really good night for us tonight. So, it was good to see him get back to swinging it well, because we are going to need him down the stretch."

Behind Allison at the plate for Samford, Brad Moss went 3-for-3 with an RBI. Saxon Butler drove in two runs with a double in a 1-for-4 performance. Phillip Ervin also drove in a run for the Bulldogs.

Andres Gracia (1-0) pitched 3.0 innings, giving up one run on four hits to earn the win. Michael Gunter, Cole Limbaugh, Joseph Burns, Charles Terry, Arthur Strauss and C.K. Irby also saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs.

"I thought we pitched really well," Dunn said. "I thought everybody threw the ball well. All of our guys went out there and competed, and they all threw strikes. Their two runs were both on solo home runs, and that happens sometimes, but I was really pleased with the way we pitched."

For UAB, Ivan De Jesus and John Frost both went 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI. Jeff Schalk, Ryan Prinzing and Tyler Mims had a hit each for the Blazers. Tanner Bryant (1-1) pitched 3.0 innings, giving up two runs on five hits to take the loss on the mound for UAB.

UAB jumped on top first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. With one out in the inning, Frost hit a solo home run to left-center field to give the Blazers a 1-0 lead.

Samford came back with two runs in the top of the third inning to take a 2-1 lead. Allison reached base on an infield single to lead off the inning. Zeth Stone then singled to center field, moving Allison to second base. Allison then moved to third base and Stone to second on a sacrifice bunt by Moss. Butler then doubled to drive in Allison and Stone for a one-run Samford lead.

The Bulldogs added five runs in the top of the fourth inning to push their lead to 7-1. Irby and Kevin Putkonen drew back-to-back walks to start the inning and then both scored on a double by Allison for a 4-1 lead. With two outs in the inning, Moss walked. Butler then reached base on an error, allowing Allison and Moss to score for a 6-1 Samford lead. Ervin then singled to drive in Butler to make the score 7-1.

The Blazers put their second run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning. De Jesus led the inning off with a home run to cut the Samford lead to 7-2.

Samford plated another run in the top of the sixth inning to make the score 8-2. With one out in the inning, Allison doubled to right field. With two outs in the inning, Moss singled to right field to drive in Allison for a six-run Samford lead.

The Bulldogs added one final run in the top of the eighth inning to push their lead to 9-2. With one out in the inning, Allison tripled to get things started. Stone then grounded out to second base to drive in Allison for Samford's ninth run of the contest.

The win was Samford's sixth-straight over UAB. Samford improves to 26-16 with the win, while UAB drops to 23-20 with the loss.

Samford will return to action on Friday, when the Bulldogs open a three-game Southern Conference series at Davidson. The teams will play Friday at 5 p.m. (CT), Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT) and Sunday at 12 p.m. (CT).