TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Charles Basford pitched 8.0 shutout innings and the Samford offense hit four home runs to lift the third-seeded Bulldog baseball team to a 5-0 win over second-seeded Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional Friday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium.
 
“It obviously was a great outing by Charles,” Samford head coach Casey Dunn. “I thought the biggest thing was he just stayed at the bottom of the strike zone. We feel like, when he is going good, he works down in the zone, and he did that really well today. I thought he did a great job of staying consistent.”
 
With the win, Samford advances to Saturday night's winner's bracket game against the winner of Friday night's game between top-seeded Florida State and fourth-seeded UAB. The game will be televised live on ESPN2 and is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) start.
 
The win improved Samford's record to 40-21, giving the program its first-ever 40-win season and its first NCAA Tournament win. Mississippi State falls to 39-23 with the loss.
 
Basford, a Tallahassee native, struck out four batters and allowed just five hits in improving his record to 10-2 on the season. C.K. Irby, who hit one of Samford's four home runs, also pitched the final inning, allowing no hits and striking out one.
 
“We knew if we could go out there and play our game, it was going to be great for us,” Basford said. “With the crowd and all of the hometown people at the game, it was definitely a big motivator for me.”
 
Brandon Miller, Saxon Butler, Irby and Christiaan Durdaller each hit a home run in the win for Samford. Miller's homer was his nation-leading 23^rd of the season, while Butler's was his 15^th of the year. Irby was 3-for-4 with two RBI overall at the plate. Brad Moss, Butler, Miller and Durdaller had one hit each for Samford.
 
“Brandon got the home run early and then we finally got some balls to fall,” Dunn said. “We got some balls up in the air and hit them out. It's a pretty good first day to open the tournament, that's for sure.”
 
Mississippi State's Chris Stratton (11-2) pitched 7.2 innings, giving up four runs on six hits to take the loss for MSU. Stratton struck out four batters and walked four. Stratton gave up three of Samford's four home runs, after giving up just four homers in the entire regular season.
 
For Mississippi State at the plate, Mitch Slauter went 2-for-4. Adam Frazier, Hunter Renfore and Wes Rea had one hit each for the Bulldogs.
 
Samford put its first run on the scoreboard in the top of the second inning. Miller hit an 0-2 pitch into the parking lot in left field for his nation-leading 23^rd home run of the season to give Samford a 1-0 lead.
 
Mississippi State threatened to score, loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second inning. Basford, however, got Daryl Norris to pop up to end the threat.
 
Neither team could score again until the top of the eighth inning when Samford struck for four runs to break the game open.
 
With one out in the eighth inning, Butler hit a home run to left field to make the score 2-0. With two outs in the inning, Miller walked and then Irby homered to center field for a 4-0 Samford lead. Durdaller then homered to left field to make the score 5-0.
 
The four homers are the most Mississippi State has given up this season, and they are the second most Samford has hit this season. Samford hit five homers in a win over Alabama A&M on Feb. 21.
 
The shutout was the first by a Southern Conference team in an NCAA Regional since Western Carolina shut out Jacksonville in 2007. The shutout broke a streak of 34-straight NCAA Regional or Super Regional games in which Mississippi State had scored.
 
In addition to the ESPN2 broadcast, Saturday night's game can also be heard in the Birmingham area on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. Fans can also follow the game via GameTracker at www.samfordsports.com.