April 29, 2012

Box Score

DAVIDSON, N.C. - Samford senior first baseman Saxon Butler went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple, a home run and three RBI as the Bulldog baseball team completed a sweep of its Southern Conference series at Davidson with a 15-6 win over the Wildcats Sunday afternoon at Wilson Field.

Senior right fielder Brandon Miller was 2-for-6 with a home run, a double and one RBI. The home run was Miller's 17th of the season, tying the Samford single-season record set by Jim Morgan in 1997. For his two-year career at Samford, Miller has hit a Samford-record 33 home runs after belting 16 homers last season.

Butler finished just a single away from hitting for the cycle in the contest. Butler's home run was his 10th of the season, and his triple was his first of his career.

In addition to Butler's and Miller's heroics, Phillip Ervin hit his eighth home run of the season in a 1-for-4 performance. Brad Moss, C.K. Irby, Christiaan Durdaller and Austin Allison had two hits each for Samford. Allison drove in two runs, while Irby drove in one run.

Samford relief pitcher Joseph Burns (3-0) pitched 3.0 innings in relief, giving up just one hit and striking out a career-high seven batters to earn the win on the mound for the Bulldogs. Kyle Putkonen, Tyler Vanderheiden and Arthur Strauss also saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs.

Davidson was led by Drew Gadaire, going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Andrew Barna went 2-for-5 with two RBI, while Ryan Lowe went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Wildcats. Danny Mooney (1-4) pitched an inning, giving up two runs on one hit to take the loss for the Wildcats.

Samford jumped on top early with a run in the top of the second inning. With one out in the inning, Miller homered to left field to give Samford a 1-0 lead.

The Bulldogs added two more runs in the top of the third inning to push their lead to 3-0. Butler tripled to drive in Moss for the first run of the inning. Butler later scored when Ervin reached base on a Davidson error for a three-run Samford lead.

Davidson came back with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the Samford lead to 3-1. Jake Berman reached base on a Samford error and later scored from third base on another Bulldog error to cut Samford's lead to two runs.

Samford plated another run in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 4-1. Moss singled to lead off the inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ervin for a three-run Samford lead.

Davidson answered with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead. Barna and Gadaire each had two-RBI singles in the inning to put the Wildcats on top.

Samford took the lead again with three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Butler reached base on a two-out error to start the rally. Ervin then hit a two-run home run down the left-field line. After a double by Miller, Irby singled to drive in Miller for a 7-5 Samford lead.

The Bulldogs added three runs in the eighth inning to push their lead to 10-5. Moss drove in the first run of the inning, grounding out to drive in Matt Frederick. Butler then hit a two-run homer to give Samford a five-run lead.

Samford plated five runs in the top of the ninth inning to make the score 15-5. Allison drove in two runs with a double, Zeth Stone drove in two more with a single and Kevin Putkonen hit a sacrifice fly for Samford's five runs in the final inning.

Davidson plated one final run in the bottom of the ninth inning to make the final score 15-6. Lowe singled to lead off the inning and later scored on a ground out by Berman for the game's final run.

With the win, Samford improves to 29-16 overall and 16-8 in Southern Conference play. Davidson drops to 16-25 overall and 7-17 in league play. Samford has now won six-straight SoCon games and eight of its last nine games overall.

Samford will return to action on Tuesday, May 1, when the Bulldogs play host to in-state rival Troy. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field.