Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— The Samford baseball team split its doubleheader with Davidson Thursday at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Samford won the first game, 14-2, but Davidson came back to win game two, 10-5.

The win in game one guarantees Samford  a spot in next week's Southern Conference Tournament, which will begin Wednesday in Greenville, S.C. Samford is now 27-27 overall and 12-15 in Southern Conference play. Davidson moves to 16-31 overall and 10-18 in league play.
 
In game one, Samford was led at the plate by Patrick McGavin, going 3-for-5 with a double and four RBI. Christiaan Durdaller went 3-for-4 with two RBI. C.K. Irby and Tommy Corbin had two hits and two RBI each. Zeth Stone drove in two runs in a 1-for-4 performance.
 
Eric Wright (5-3) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up two runs on four hits to pick up the win on the mound for Samford. Andres Gracia and Irby combined to pitch the final 4.0 innings to close out the win.
 
For Davidson in the first game, David Daniels went 2-for-5 at the plate. Ryan Lowe and Andrew Barna drove in a run each for the Wildcats in game one. Lowe (4-8) was also the starting pitcher for Davidson, tossing 2.0 innings, allowing five runs on two hits to take the loss.
 
Samford jumped on top early with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Stone walked to lead off the inning and later scored on a wild pitch for the first run. Phillip Ervin singled with one out and later scored on a ground out by McGavin for a 2-0 Samford lead.
 
The Bulldogs added five runs in the third inning to make the score 7-0. Irby singled to drive in two runs, while McGavin, Drew McWhorter and Corbin drove in a run each to give Samford a seven-run lead.
 
Davidson got on the scoreboard with two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Lowe doubled to drive in the first run of the inning, and Barna drove in the inning's final run on a sacrifice fly to cut the Samford lead to 7-2.
 
Samford plated five more runs in the seventh inning to make the score 12-2. McGavin and Durdaller drove in two runs each, while Stone drove in one run in the seventh for a 10-run Samford lead.
 
The Bulldogs finished the scoring for game one with two runs in the eighth inning to make the final score 14-2. Corbin singled to drive in Caleb Bryson for the first run of the inning, and Stone grounded out to first base, driving in Corbin for the game's final run.
 
In game two, Samford was led by Irby, going 2-for-4 at the plate. Durdaller, Bryson, Brandon Haarer and Richard Greene drove in a run each for the Bulldogs. McGavin (0-5) pitched 3.0 innings, giving up eight runs on seven hits to take the loss on the mound for Samford. Charles Terry and Sean Handlan also saw time on the mound in game two for the Bulldogs.
 
Davidson was led in game two by Nathan Becker, going 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Barna went 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBI. Lowe went 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Wildcats. Danny Mooney (6-4) pitched 8.0 innings, giving up five runs, just four earned, on eight hits to earn the win on the mound for the Wildcats.
 
Davidson jumped on top early, plating four runs in the first inning, and four more in the third for an 8-0 lead. Barna and Becker drove in two runs each in the first inning. In the third inning, Barna hit a two-run home run, Becker hit a solo homer, and Lowe also drove in a run to give Davidson an eight-run lead.
 
The Wildcats extended their lead to 10-0 with two runs in the top of the seventh inning. Sam Foy singled to drive in Barna and Lowe to account for the two Wildcat runs in the seventh inning.
 
Samford put its first runs of game two on the scoreboard, plating three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Bryson, Haarer and Greene drove in a run each in the inning for Samford to cut the Davidson lead to 10-3.
 
The Bulldogs added two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 10-5. Durdaller hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Stone for the first run of the eighth inning. The game's final run was scored by Ervin when Corbin reached base on a Davidson error.
 
Samford and Davidson will wrap up their three-game series with a game Friday at 4 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. The game can also be seen online for free via Samford Sports TV at www.samfordsports.com/showcase. Live stats will also be available at www.samfordsports.com.