Box Score BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team dropped an 11-9 decision to Furman in the second game of a three-game Southern Conference series Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
Samford was led offensively by Drew McWhorter, going 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI. Brandon Powell went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while T.J. Dixon went 2-for-3 for the Bulldogs. Tyler Filliben drove in two runs in a 1-for-4 performance.
 
Samford pitcher Parker Curry (2-1) pitched 1.1 innings in relief, giving up four runs, just one earned, on four hits to take the loss on the mound for the Bulldogs. Jared Brasher, Cole Limbaugh, Mikel Belcher, Mark Donham and Patrick McGavin also saw time on the mound for Samford.
 
For Furman, Alex Abrams (4-1) earned the win on the mound, pitching 3.1 innings in relief, giving up two runs on two hits. Abrams, who also served as the team's designated hitter, went 3-for-6 with a double, a home run and three RBI. Greg Harrison went 3-for-4, while Sky Overton went 2-for-5 with three RBI.
 
Samford jumped out to a 5-1 lead after the first three innings of the game. McWhorter and Powell drove in a run each in the first inning for an early 2-0 lead. After Furman plated its first run in the top of the third inning, Samford came back with three runs in the bottom of the third. McWhorter drove in two runs and Jared Watson drove in one for a four-run Samford lead.
 
Furman came back with four runs in the fourth inning and four more in the seventh inning. In the fourth inning, Harrison scored the first run on a wild pitch. Overton later drove in a run, and Abrams drove in two runs to tie the score at 5-5. In the seventh inning, Overton drove in two runs, and Jake Jones and Heath Burton drove in a run each to give Furman a 9-5 lead.
 
The Paladins added two more runs in the eighth inning to push their lead to 11-5. Jordan Simpson drove in the first run in the inning. Chris Ohmstede later scored on a wild pitch for a six-run Furman lead.
 
Samford came back with four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to close to within two runs. Caleb Bryson and Frankie Navarrete drove in a run each to make the score 11-7. Filliben later tripled to drive in Dixon and Bryson to cut the Paladin lead to 11-9.
 
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Samford loaded the bases with two outs. The Bulldogs, however, were unable to push any more runs across, and the game ended in an 11-9 Furman victory.
 
With the loss, Samford falls to 15-11 overall and 3-2 in Southern Conference play. Furman improves to 11-16 overall and 2-3 in SoCon games.
 
The teams will conclude their series with a game Sunday at 1 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 viewed online via Samford Sports TV at www.samfordsports.com/showcase. Live stats will also be available at www.samfordsports.com.