BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team fell behind early and never could catch up as the Bulldogs dropped a 13-6 decision to The Citadel Bulldogs in the second game of a Southern Conference series Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
Samford was led in the loss by Alex Lee, going 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Heath Quinn went 2-for-5 with an RBI, while Hunter Swilling and Danny Rodriguez added two hits each. Parker Curry (6-5) pitched 4.0 innings, giving up four runs on six hits to take the loss on the mound for Samford.
 
For The Citadel, Steven Hansen went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Austin Mapes went 2-for-6 with a homer and one RBI. Mike Deese also homered in the game for The Citadel. J.P. Sears (5-4) tossed 5.1 innings, giving up two runs on six hits to pick up the win for The Citadel.
 
The Citadel built an early lead with a run in the second inning and three runs in the third inning. In the fifth inning, The Citadel broke the game open with four runs, and then added a run in the top of the sixth to build a 9-0 lead over Samford.
 
Samford put its first runs on the scoreboard, plating two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Samford then added three runs in the seventh inning to cut The Citadel's lead to 9-5.
 
The Citadel, however, extended its lead to 12-5 with three runs in the top of the eighth inning. Samford scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, and The Citadel plated the game's final run in the top of the ninth to make the final score 13-6.
 
With the loss, Samford falls to 24-21 overall and 10-7 in Southern Conference play. The Citadel improves to 20-25 overall and 5-12 in league play.
 
The teams will conclude their three-game series with a game Sunday at 12 p.m. 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 the SoCon Digital Network at www.socondigitalnetwork.com/samford.