Box Score BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The Samford baseball team fell behind early and never could catch up as the Bulldogs fell to Alabama, 15-7, Tuesday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
With the loss, Samford falls to 12-10 on the season. Alabama improves to 12-9 with the win.
 
Samford used 17 position players and nine pitchers in the loss. The Bulldogs were led at the plate by Caleb Bryson, going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Frankie Navarrete also went 2-for-4 at the plate for Samford. C.K. Irby hit his fourth home run of the season in a 1-for-3 performance.
 
Patrick McGavin (0-3) pitched 1.0 inning, giving up five runs, only two earned, on five hits to take the loss on the mound for Samford. Charles Terry, Sean Handlan, Phillip Flach, Mark Donham, Luke Leeth, Patrick Maronde, Parker Curry and Devyn Traglia also saw time on the mound for Samford.
 
For Alabama at the plate, Austen Smith went 3-for-5 with a home run, a double and three RBI. Kyle Overstreet went 3-for-3 with an RBI, while Ben Moore went 2-for-3 with two RBI, and Mikey White went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
 
Tucker Hawley (4-1) pitched 3.0 innings, allowing one run on two hits to earn the win for the Crimson Tide. Keaton Haack, Trey Pilkington and Mike Oczypok also pitched in the game for Alabama.
 
Alabama grabbed control of the game early with five runs in the top of the first inning. Moore doubled to drive in Kenny Roberts for the game's first run. Moore later scored when Brett Booth reached base on a Samford error. Booth advanced to second base on the play and later stole third base. Smith then singled to drive in Booth. Smith later scored from third base when Overstreet was caught stealing second base. White later doubled to drive in Cameron Carlisle for a 5-0 Alabama lead.
 
Samford plated its first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs in the inning, Irby homered to left field to cut the Alabama lead to 5-1.
 
The Crimson Tide plated eight more runs in the top of the third inning to make the score 13-1. Booth drove in three runs in the inning, Smith drove in two with a home run, and Andrew Miller, Georgie Salem and Moore drove in a run each in the inning.
 
Samford came back with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the lead to 13-4. Bryson singled to drive in Christiaan Durdaller, and Phillip Ervin scored on an error for the first two runs in the inning. Drew McWhorter later hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Bryson for Samford's fourth run of the game.
 
Alabama plated a run in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 14-4. Overstreet doubled to right-center field to drive in Moore for a 10-run Alabama lead.
 
The Crimson Tide plated its 15^th run of the game in the top of the seventh inning. Booth hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Roberts to make the score 15-4.
 
Samford added three final runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the final score 15-7. Anthony Gonzalez doubled and later scored the first run of the inning on a single by Brandon Powell. Sam Few, who had earlier singled, scored when Bryson grounded out to first base. Powell later scored when Jared Watson doubled to left-center field for the game's final run.
 
Samford will return to action on Friday, March 22, when the Bulldogs open a Southern Conference series at Furman. Friday's series-opener is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. (CT) in Greenville, S.C.