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HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Samford University baseball team will begin play in a key early-season series this weekend as the Bulldogs hit the road to face the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in a three-game set scheduled to begin Friday at 6 p.m. (CST) at Pete Taylor Park.
 
"Southern Miss is a very good team and they are off to a really good start this season," said Samford head coach Casey Dunn. "Their numbers are very good this year and we're really going to have our hands full with a very good club. We need to play as many competitive teams as possible at this point in the season and I'm really looking forward to this series."
 
Samford (8-5) heads into the matchup with a full head of steam after defeating Troy at home Tuesday, 20-6. With their lopsided win, the Bulldogs improved to 7-3 at home and tallied their seventh double-digit scoring performance of the young 2016 campaign.
 
Samford's 20 runs Tuesday proved to be its largest total of the season as the Bulldogs have outscored their opponents by a total of 113-50 in 2016. Samford is averaging 8.7 runs per game this year and has scored at least 10 runs in seven of their 13 outings.
 
BULLDOGS RACKING UP DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING PERFORMANCES
Already this season, Samford has tallied seven double-digit scoring performances and has scored a total of 113 runs. The Bulldogs are averaging 8.7 runs per game this year and have accumulated scoring performances of 20, 16, 14, 13, 12 and 10 (twice) this season.
 

Individually, Samford's Heath Quinn, who is one of the team's three Preseason All-Americans, leads the team with 18 runs scored in 2016.
 
IT'S RALLY TIME
Already this season, Samford has scored 10 runs in an inning TWICE. The first occurrence happened Feb. 19, in the Bulldogs' opening game of the year against Butler. En route to a 14-1 victory, Samford exploded for 10 runs on nine hits in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Bulldogs garnered an 11-1 lead at the time.
 
Samford's second 10-run inning this season occurred Tuesday at home against Troy. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Bulldogs sent 15 batters to the plate, scored 10 runs on four hits and gave Samford a 20-5 lead over the Trojans. The Bulldogs went on to win the game, 20-6.
 
BULLDOGS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Category, Rank (Value)
Doubles, #7 (36)
Home Runs, #9 (19)
Slugging Percentage, #10 (.535)
Home Runs Per Game, #11 (1.46)
Hits, #13 (146)
Doubles Per Game, #19 (2.77)
Runs, #25 (113)
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Southern Miss (11-3) enters this weekend's matchup with Samford boasting a near-perfect 7-1 record at home this season. The Golden Eagles won their first seven home games of the 2016 campaign, but recently suffered a 4-2 defeat against Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday.
 
Southern Miss' loss snapped a four-game winning streak that dated back to March 2 versus South Alabama, 4-2. Two of the Golden Eagles' three losses this season have come against South Alabama. The Jaguars were also able to defeat Southern Miss on March 1, 9-3, in Mobile, Alabama.
 
The Golden Eagles opened their 2016 campaign with a seven-game winning streak, in which they swept Eastern Illinois and Northwestern State, defeated New Orleans (UNO), 7-3, and outscored their opponents by a total score of 68-26.
 
Individually, Southern Miss boasts seven players hitting at least .300 this season. Junior infielder Tracy Hadley paces the Golden Eagles with a .417 batting average, but has only seen action in five games this season. Nick Dawson (.367) and Tim Lynch (.357) both feature plus .350 batting averages this year, while Jake Sandlin, Hunter Slater, Taylor Braley and Dylan Burdeaux are also hitting over .300 this season.
 
On the mound, Southern Miss' Cord Cockrell, Jake Winston and Luke Lowery all own perfect 2-0 records this season, while Mason Walley, Cody Livingston, Kirk McCarty and Walker Powell are 1-0 in 2016.
 
BULLDOGS' RECORD AGAINST SOUTHERN MISS - - THE DUNN ERA
Since Dunn took the reins to the Bulldogs' baseball program in 2004, Samford has not faced Southern Miss. Friday's game will mark the first meeting between Samford and Southern Miss under the direction of Dunn.
 
WINNING BIG HAS BEEN THE TREND
The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents by a total of 113-50 this season, for a run differential of 63. In its eight wins throughout the 2016 campaign, Samford is averaging a 9.6 run margin of victory. Conversely, in the Bulldogs' five losses this season, the margin of victory has only been 2.8 runs.
 
BULLDOGS' HEATH QUINN IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Category, Rank (Value)
Home Runs, #1 (8)
Total Bases, #1 (54)
Home Runs Per Game, #1 (.62)
Runs Batted In, #1 (26)
Runs Batted In Per Game, #1 (2.00)
Slugging Percentage, #2 (.982)
Hits, #10 (23)
Runs, #16 (18)
 

SAMFORD'S GREENE NAMED TO JOHNNY BENCH AWARD WATCH LIST
National accolades continued to roll in for Samford's Richard Greene on Wednesday as the Bulldogs' Preseason All-Southern Conference honoree was named to the Watch List for the 2016 Johnny Bench Award, it was officially announced by the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission.
 
Greene, Samford's talented senior catcher from Birmingham, Alabama, boasts a .366 batting average this season and entered Tuesday's 20-6 victory over Troy as the No. 8-ranked player in the nation in doubles (7). Greene added to his total versus Troy by doubling home teammate Jared Watson from second base in the fifth inning with a line drive down the left-field line.
   
With eight doubles this season, Greene has already tallied 15 hits, 12 RBI, eight runs scored, three base on balls and a home run in 2016.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following this weekend's three-game road series at Southern Miss, the Samford University baseball team will next be in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs travel to Montgomery, Alabama, for a midweek matchup against the Alabama State Hornets. Next week's in-state contest is scheduled to be held at Alabama State's Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
 
For quick score updates, breaking news and links to all of your favorite articles featuring the Bulldogs, please follow @SamfordBaseball and @Samford_Sports on Twitter.

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