BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team split a doubleheader with UNCG to open the teams' Southern Conference series Friday at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Samford won the first game, 7-4, but fell in game two by a score of 5-0.
"In the first game, I thought our approaches were great," Samford head coach
Casey Dunn said. "I thought our focus, our effort and everything was so good offensively. In game two it was like we just assumed we were going to score. When you just go up there swinging, we're not good enough to do that. We have to regroup with a chance to win a conference series tomorrow."
In game one for Samford,
Austin Edens went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and two RBI.
Hunter Swilling,
Heath Quinn and
T.J. Dixon each went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Alex Lee also homered for Samford in the win, going 1-for-3 with two RBI.
Jared Brasher (1-2) pitched 7.0 innings, giving up two runs on six hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Brasher struck out five batters and allowed just one walk.
Andres Gracia pitched the final inning to pick up his sixth save of the season.
For UNCG in game one, Zac MacAneney, Tyler Long and Eric Kalbfleisch had two hits each. Aaron Wright hit a home run in the game for the Spartans, going 1-for-3 with three RBI. Ryan Clark (5-2) pitched 6.0 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits to take the loss for the Spartans.
UNCG struck first in game one, plating two runs in the top of the third inning to take an early 2-0 lead. Samford, however came back to take the lead for good with four runs in the bottom of the third inning. Swilling and Quinn drove in one run each for Samford in the inning, and Lee hit a two-run homer to give Samford the 4-2 advantage.
Samford plated a run in the fifth inning, one run in the sixth inning and another run in the seventh inning to push its lead to 7-2. In the fifth inning Edens doubled to drive in Quinn for the run. In the sixth inning, Dixon singled to drive in
Robert Perteet for Samford's sixth run of the game. The run in the seventh inning scored when Edens hit a solo home run to left field.
UNCG plated two final runs in the eighth inning to make the final score 7-4. Wright hit a two-run home run to right field for the game's final two runs.
In game two for Samford, Quinn went 2-for-4 to lead the Bulldogs at the plate.
Danny Rodriguez and
Frankie Navarrete added one hit each in the second game.
Alex Ledford (3-3) pitched 8.0 innings, giving up five runs, just three earned, on eight hits. Ledford struck out nine batters and walked just two.
UNCG's Ryne Sigmon and Jake Hall had two hits each. Collin Woody homered for the Spartans in game two, going 1-for-4 with two RBI. Andrew Wantz (5-0) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up no runs on two hits to earn the win on the mound. Tyler Frazier tossed the final 4.0 inning for UNCG to pick up his second save of the season.
The Spartans took control of the game early, plating two runs in the first inning, one run in the second inning and one more run in the third inning for an early 4-0 lead. The score remained the same until UNCG plated one final run in the eighth inning to make the final score 5-0.
Samford moves to 13-16 overall and 5-3 in the Southern Conference with the split. UNCG is now 13-14 overall and 5-3 in league play.
Samford and UNCG will conclude their series with a single game Saturday afternoon. The contest is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
