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Game Two (Friday): Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats
Game Three (Saturday): Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats

Samford Game Notes | Tickets

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Samford University baseball team will begin play in its 2016 Southern Conference schedule Thursday at 5 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs square off against the Furman Paladins in a key league-opening series to be held at the Latham Baseball Stadium.
 
This week's three-game set will start Thursday at 5 p.m., with game two being slated to begin at 3 p.m., Friday. The final contest of the three-game series will be held at noon Saturday.
 
Samford (12-9), which was preseason picked as the favorite to win the SoCon this season, heads into conference play with a full head of steam after defeating Jacksonville State on Tuesday, 10-7.
 
With their win, the Bulldogs remained undefeated against in-state opponents this season and improved to 4-0 in rivalry games. Already this year, Samford has defeated UAB, 13-2, Troy, 20-6, Alabama State, 18-7, and Jacksonville State, 10-7.
  
In total, the Bulldogs have outscored their in-state foes by a count of 61-22 this season and have tallied at least 10 runs in every matchup.
 
Samford owns a 3-4 record on the road in 2016. The Bulldogs finished 1-2 in three-game sets at both ULM and Southern Miss earlier this season, and also tallied a dominant 18-7 triumph over Alabama State in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 15.
 
Last year, Samford compiled a 12-11 record on the road, including a 7-5 mark against SoCon opponents.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Furman (8-12) enters SoCon play with aspirations of snapping a four-game losing streak. Since knocking off College of Charleston in midweek action, 9-7, on March 15, the Paladins were swept in a three-game series at Davidson, 15-4, 4-3 and 4-3, before dropping a 6-3 decision on the road versus Garner-Webb on Tuesday.
 
Since March 9, Furman has tallied a 1-8 overall record. Prior to defeating College of Charleston, the Paladins dropped consecutive games against South Carolina, 5-4, and a tough three-game set at Tulane, 11-6, 10-6 and 8-0.
 
Furman has registered a solid 8-4 record when playing at home this season. In fact, all eight of the Paladins' triumphs this year were achieved at home at the Latham Baseball Stadium.
 
Furman was preseason picked to finish sixth in the SoCon by both the coaches and the media. Individually, the Paladins' Will Gaddis earned Second-Team All-SoCon preseason honors.
 
Gaddis, a sophomore right-handed pitcher, has compiled a 2-2 record and 31 strikeouts this season, while listing a 4.11 earned run average heading into the weekend. He will start Thursday's game against Samford.
 
Offensively, Furman's Jabari Richards leads the team with a stellar .395 batting average this season.  The Paladins' true freshman outfielder has already scored 21 runs on 30 base hits in 2016.
 

BULLDOGS' RECORD AGAINST FURMAN - - THE DUNN ERA
Since Head Coach Casey Dunn took the reins to the Bulldogs' baseball program in 2004, Samford has compiled an impressive 18-6 overall record against Furman. Last season, the teams played a three-game series in Birmingham, Alabama, and the Bulldogs registered a 2-1 record in the matchup.
 
The Paladins upended Samford in the first game, 6-4, but then the Bulldogs responded with back-to-back wins of 12-6 and 7-6 to secure the critical series victory.
 
Three years ago in 2013, when the three-game rivalry was most recently held in Greenville, Samford earned a dominant series sweep by tallying victories of 9-1, 9-4 and 16-6.
 
SAMFORD PICKED FIRST BY COACHES
For the first time in its eight-year membership in the SoCon, Samford was picked first in the 2016
Preseason SoCon Coaches Poll, it was officially released by the league headquarters on Feb. 11. The vote was taken of the conference's nine head coaches.
 
Samford placed first with 60 total votes, while defending champion Mercer followed closely with 59. The Bulldogs and Bears both received four first-place votes.
 
Samford finished the 2015 campaign with a 32-26 overall mark and a 14-10 record in the SoCon. The Bulldogs' second-place league finish was their best since joining the SoCon in 2009, while their tournament title-game appearance was their fourth in five seasons.
 
Samford returns all nine position starters and two starting pitchers from last year and placed a league-high seven players on the preseason all-conference teams.
 

BULLDOGS' PRESEASON ALL-SOCON PLAYERS
Samford's Alex Lee (first base), Hunter Swilling (third base), Quinn (outfield) and Austin Edens (designated hitter) earned spots on the preseason first team after all-conference 2015 campaigns. Swilling, Quinn and Edens have each earned preseason All-America honors heading into the season.
 
Edens, the 2015 SoCon Freshman of the Year, was named a first-team freshman All-American last year. The Bulldogs also placed three players on the preseason second team in catcher Richard Greene, second baseman Frankie Navarrete and outfielder T.J. Dixon.
 
SAMFORD'S QUINN NAMED SOCON PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Samford's Heath Quinn garnered one of the SoCon's top honors on March 10, as the Bulldogs' junior right fielder from Birmingham, Alabama, was named the conference's Player of the Month, it was officially released by the league's headquarters.
 
Quinn hit a league-best .545 in February, smashing a SoCon-leading seven home runs and posting a conference-best 1.333 slugging percentage. He also led the league with 18 hits, 13 runs and 44 total bases – nearly double teammate Austin Edens' total of 25 in the runner-up spot – as the Bulldogs opened the season 5-3.
 
Quinn turned in five multiple-hit games in the month, including a 5-for-5 effort in which he hit for the cycle and recorded five RBIs and three runs scored against Butler in his second game of the season, on Feb. 20.
 

Additionally, Quinn homered in each of Samford's first three games and went 4-for-5 on opening day. He also hit three home runs in game two of a doubleheader with BYU on Feb. 26, adding a double and driving in seven runs in the contest. Quinn homered in game one, giving him four on the day. He was named the SoCon Player of the Week for both weeks of the opening month of play.
 
SAMFORD AMONG THE NATION'S ELITE
Samford entered the 2016 campaign as one of only three teams in the nation to boast three National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason All-Americans. The Bulldogs returned the efforts of Edens, Quinn and Swilling this season, joining only Louisville and Florida as the other two programs in the country with three Preseason All-America members.
 
MIAMI NICE - - SAMFORD'S TALENTED SOUTH BEACH MIDDLE INFIELD
Samford boasts one of the best middle infield duos in the SoCon this season behind the play of talented seniors Danny Rodriguez and Navarrete. Rodriguez and Navarrete both herald from 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 21 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 started in 20 of the team's 21 games this season and has only committed four errors.
 

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 March 8 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.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following this weekend's SoCon-opening series at Furman, the Samford University baseball team will next be in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs match up with the Jacksonville State Gamecocks for a second straight non-conference contest – this time on the road in Jacksonville, Alabama, at JSU's Rudy Abbott Field.
 
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Game One (Thursday): Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats
Game Two (Friday): Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats
Game Three (Saturday): Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats

Samford Game Notes | Tickets