BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team built an early lead and held off a late Alabama A&M rally to earn an 8-4 win Wednesday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
"For the first three innings, I thought we did a good job offensively," Samford head coach
Casey Dunn said. "Eric (Wright) threw the ball well on the mound.
Wyatt Burns was really good and Andres (Gracia) did a nice job. That's the encouraging thing, that three of the four guys we ran out there to pitch did a good job."
For Samford at the plate,
T.J. Dixon went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI.
Heath Quinn went 2-for-5 with a triple and two RBI.
Hunter Swilling,
Austin Edens and
Alex Lee drove in a run each for the Bulldogs.
Eric Wright (2-2) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up one run on four hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Wright struck out seven batters, while allowing just one walk.
Wyatt Burns,
Mark Donham and
Andres Gracia also saw time on the mound for Samford.
Alabama A&M was led by Andrew Utterback, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Dylan Payne went 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBI for Alabama A&M. Taylor Knight (0-1) pitched 2.0 innings, giving up four runs on five hits to take the loss on the mound.
Alabama A&M struck first with a run in the top of the first inning. Utterback singled up the middle to drive in Brandyn Crutcher for a 1-0 A&M lead.
Samford took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. With one out in the inning, Swilling walked. Quinn then tripled to right field to drive in Swilling to tie the score at 1-1. With two outs, Lee singled to drive in Quinn for a 2-1 Samford lead.
Samford added two more runs in the second inning to push its lead to 4-1.
Frankie Navarrete walked to lead off the inning and later scored when Swilling reached base on a fielder's choice for the inning's first run. Edens later singled to drive in Dixon for a three-run Samford lead.
In the third inning, Samford plated two more runs for a 6-1 lead. With two outs in the inning, Navarrete walked. Dixon then homered to right field to give Samford a five-run advantage. The home run was the first of Dixon's Samford career.
Samford scored another run in the sixth inning for a 7-1 advantage. Pinch hitter
Grant Colton was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Colton later scored from third base on a wild pitch for Samford's seventh run of the game.
Alabama A&M came back with three runs in the top of the eighth inning to cut Samford's lead to 7-4. Justen Folger scored the first run of the inning when Julio Nunez grounded out to second base. Payne then hit a two-run home run to bring Alabama A&M to within three runs of Samford.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Samford added one final run to make the final score 8-4. Dixon reached base on an infield single to lead off the inning. Dixon advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt, and then stole third base. Quinn then singled up the middle to drive in Dixon for the game's final run.
With the win, Samford improves to 12-15 on the season. Alabama A&M falls to 16-15 with the loss.
Samford will return to action this weekend when the Bulldogs host the UNCG Spartans in a three-game Southern Conference series. The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader Friday at 3 p.m. and a single game Saturday at 2 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
