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MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team will play its seventh road games in eight outings Tuesday as the Bulldogs square off against the Alabama State Hornets at 6 p.m. (CDT) in a key non-conference matchup to be held at ASU's Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex.
   
Samford (9-7) heads into the contest with aspirations of closing out its current four-game road stretch on a high note. After rolling to a 20-6 home victory against Troy on March 8, the Bulldogs tallied a 1-2 weekend record on the road versus Southern Miss.
 
Following a rainout Friday, Samford dropped an 8-2 decision against the Golden Eagles on Saturday, but then bounced back for a thrilling 10-8 extra-inning triumph in game two of the series Sunday.
 
Southern Miss stormed from behind to win the rubber game Sunday as the Golden Eagles rallied for six unanswered runs en route to a 6-3 victory. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage in the top of the third inning, but were unable to tally another run in the final six frames of the contest.
 
So far this season, Samford owns a perfect 2-0 record against in-state opponents. On March 1, the Bulldogs posted a 13-2 victory over UAB before notching their 20-6 triumph against Troy on March 8. Samford has outscored in-state opponents this season by a total of 33-8 in two games.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Alabama State (10-7) enters the game boasting a perfect 3-0 record in Southwest Athletic Conference (SWAC) play this season. The Hornets swept a three-game home series against Jackson State in the first weekend of March and tallied a 4-2 non-conference record last week.
 
Alabama State started the week at the 2016 Perfect Game Challenge in Emerson, Ga., and split a mini two-game slate against Bowling Green. The Hornets dropped the first game, 7-4, but then bounced back to record an 11-3 triumph in the second matchup.
 
The Hornets' streak of nine straight games with at least one homer ended in game one of Saturday's doubleheader versus Northern Kentucky. It tied the longest streak in the Head Coach Mervyl Melendez era, set in 2015 (March 25-April 7; 10 home runs). With 15 home runs in 17 games, the Hornets have already surpassed the 2012 season total and are on pace to break last year's total of 38 homers.
   
Alabama State continues to be offensive late in games, scoring 31 runs in the final three innings of games this season.
 
Carlos Ocasio has reached base in all 17 games this season, an on-base streak just ahead of Eriq White's 14 and Dillon Cooper's 10.
 
Hornet pitching has fanned at least nine hitters in five straight games, including three-consecutive 10+ K games (12, 13 and 12).
 

BULLDOGS' RECORD AGAINST ALABAMA STATE - - THE DUNN ERA
Since Head Coach Casey Dunn took the reins to the Bulldogs' baseball program in 2004, Samford has compiled a 3-1 record against Alabama State.
 
Last season, the teams squared off twice in a home-and-home series with the Bulldogs winning both of the matchups. On March 24, Samford earned a 12-6 road victory in Montgomery before coming back home to notch a 6-2 win against the Hornets in a duel held in Birmingham.
 
MIAMI NICE - - SAMFORD'S TALENTED SOUTH BEACH CONNECTION
Samford boasts one of the best middle infield duos in the Southern Conference this season behind the play of talented seniors Danny Rodriguez and Frankie Navarrete. Rodriguez and Navarrete are both natives of Miami, Florida, and have been teammates here at Samford for over three full years now.
   
Rodriguez, the Bulldogs' shortstop who prepped at Doral Academy in Miami, has started in all 16 games at the position this year and hasn't committed a single error. Navarrete, Samford's speedy second baseman and graduate of Christopher Columbus High School, has also started all 16 games this season and has only committed two errors.
 
IT'S TIME TO PULL AWAY
In the sixth and seventh innings this season, Samford is outscoring its opponents by a jaw-dropping total of 51-13. So far this year, the Bulldogs have already scored a total of 128 runs, while over a third of those runs were tallied in the sixth and seventh innings. More specifically, Samford is outscoring the opposition, 26-9, in the sixth stanza and 25-4 in the seventh inning.
 

BULLDOGS IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Category, Rank (Value)
Doubles, #5 (42)
Home Runs, #8 (21)
Doubles Per Game, #8 (2.63)
Slugging Percentage, #11 (.508)
Home Runs Per Game, #12 (1.31)
Runs, #16 (128)
Hits, #20 (175)
Scoring, #23 (8.0 rpg)
 
HE HAS THE GREENE LIGHT
Samford's senior catcher Richard Greene is batting .308 this season and has already tallied nine extra-base hits, including eight doubles. The Bulldogs' 2016 Preseason All-SoCon selection has also driven in 13 runs and scored nine, while boasting a .519 slugging percentage and a .393 on-base tally.
 
Greene, Samford's talented native of Birmingham, was recently named to the Watch List for the 2016 Johnny Bench Award this season, as well as a national candidate for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award, which is awarded annually to the person who best exemplifies what it means to excel both on and off the field.
 

HEATH QUINN - - THE CONSTANT STARTER
The Bulldogs' Heath Quinn has started in all 133 games of his collegiate career. Just a junior, Samford's Preseason All-American immediately earned a spot in the team's starting lineup as a true freshman in 2014 and has been a staple in the starting nine ever since.
 
Quinn boasts nation-leading totals with nine home runs, 30 RBI and 60 total bases this season. In his three-year tenure at Samford, Quinn owns a .336 career batting average, 32 home runs, 134 RBI and 126 runs scored.
 
BULLDOGS' HEATH QUINN IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Category, Rank (Value)
Home Runs, #1 (9)
Total Bases, #1 (60)
Runs Batted In, #1 (30)
Home Runs Per Game, #2 (.56)
Runs Batted In Per Game, #2 (1.88)
Slugging Percentage, #8 (.882)
Runs, #20 (20)
 
GO AHEAD AND WRITE IT IN INK
In respect to Samford's nine position players, including the designated hitter, the Bulldogs have used the same starting lineup in 11 of the team's 16 games this season. Samford's talented starting lineup this year consists of five seniors, three juniors and a sophomore. Combined, the Bulldogs boast an incredible 906 career starts among their position starters.
 

SAMFORD'S PLAYER OF THE WEEK - - HUNTER SWILLING
Last week, in games against Troy and Southern Miss, the Bulldogs' Hunter Swilling turned in a brilliant .467 batting average, seven runs scored and five RBI. Samford's junior third baseman added a .619 on-base percentage, as well as a .933 slugging percentage.
 
On Sunday, Swilling helped propel the Bulldogs to a 10-8, 10-inning victory at Southern Miss as he turned in a 4-for-5 performance at the plate and nearly hit for the cycle for a second time in two years.
 
Against the Golden Eagles, Swilling powered a two-run homer in the first inning and later added a double and a pair of singles. He also drove in three runs and added a trio of RBI in the Bulldogs' victory.
 
In Sunday's second game of the doubleheader, Swilling posted a 2-for-3 outing at the dish as he closed out the day with an outstanding 6-for-8 performance. He also tallied a double and an RBI in a midweek home in-state victory over Troy.
 
In three games at Southern Miss, Swilling finished 6-of-10 from the plate with five runs, four RBI, three doubles and a homer.
 
HUNTER SWILLING IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Category, Rank (Value)
Doubles, #3 (10)
Doubles Per Game, #7 (.63)
Runs, #11 (21)
Runs Per Game, #17 (1.31)
 

SAMFORD'S PITCHER OF THE WEEK - - PARKER CURRY
Samford's Parker Curry pitched five complete innings of one-run relief Sunday as the Bulldogs earned a key 10-8 victory on the road against Southern Miss. Curry only allowed one run on two hits in the win and finished with four strikeouts.
 
Earlier in the week versus Troy, Curry came on to pitch two innings and settled down Samford's defense en route to a huge in-state victory. The Bulldogs' senior native of Pelham earned three strikeouts against the Trojans and only allowed a single base hit.
 
Curry is averaging two strikeouts per outing this season and is one of only two players on the team this year that has tallied a win and a save.
 
BULLDOGS' QUINN HITS FOR THE CYCLE
Against Butler on Feb. 20, which was just Samford's second game of the 2016 campaign, the Bulldogs' Quinn turned in a brilliant 5-for-5 effort in which he hit for the cycle and recorded five RBI and three runs scored. Quinn's remarkable performance proved to be Samford's first cycle since teammate Swilling achieved the feat in 2015 at Memphis on March 9.
 
In the Bulldogs' Feb. 20 home game against Memphis, Quinn singled in both the first and third innings before smacking a triple down the left-field line in the fourth stanza. In his next at-bat, Quinn doubled down the left-field line in the sixth inning. Samford won the matchup by a lopsided total of 16-1 and Quinn came up to bat again in the seventh inning needing just a home run for the cycle.
 
Quinn, the Bulldogs' talented junior from Birmingham, came through with the big bomb as he blasted a home run deep over the fence in left field on a full-count pitch.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Tuesday's key in-state road test at Alabama State, the Samford University baseball team will next be in action Friday at 6 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham to begin a three-game series against the Jacksonville Dolphins. The weekend matchup will be held at Samford's Joe Lee Griffin Field, with games slated to start at 2 p.m., Saturday and 1 p.m., on Sunday.
 
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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