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CULLOWHEE, N.C. -- With one out in the bottom of the 11^th inning, Western Carolina's Pierce Suttles came in as a pinch hitter and hit a deep single to right-center field to score the game-winning run Sunday as the Catamounts handed the Samford University baseball team a hard-fought 6-5 loss in Southern Conference play at Childress Field at Hennon Stadium.
 
"This was a heck of a ballgame," said Samford head coach Casey Dunn. "These were two good ball clubs that did a lot of things well today for 11 innings. At the end of the day, they made a couple of great plays and we came just a step shy of making a couple of great plays as well. It would have taken a special play by T.J. (Dixon) there at the end to keep them from winning the game, but they made a couple of diving plays and that's what it took to win."
 
Samford (20-16, 6-6 SoCon) scored a run in the top of the seventh inning to even the score at 5-5 in the rubber game of the weekend series. With one out in the stanza, the Bulldogs' Hunter Swilling roped a double to left field and later scored the tying run as Heath Quinn sent an RBI single to right field.
 
Swilling posted a 3-for-5 effort at the plate Sunday, while Quinn went 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Samford's Alex Lee also tallied a two-hit performance at the dish. He joined Austin Edens, Jared Watson, Richard Greene and Frankie Navarrete as Bulldogs that notched base hits.
 
In the latter innings, Samford's bullpen came on in tough positions to get the Bulldogs out of some serious jams. Caleb Maggio, Jake Greer, Josh Rich and Wyatt Burns all posted solid relief outings and kept Western Carolina from scoring game-winning runs in regulation.
 
Samford's Rich posted a pair of clutch strikeouts late in the contest, while the Bulldogs were able to get out of two bases-loaded jams.
 
"I thought our guys pitched the ball well today," Dunn said. "I can't say enough about how well the bullpen did today. Those guys did really well, especially Jake and Josh, who did a phenomenal job and Wyatt came in and helped us out of a big inning with a double play. I can't say enough about those guys and what the bullpen did today."
 
In the bottom of the 10^th inning, Western Carolina's Caleb Robinson fired a ground ball to shortstop that Danny Rodriguez made a great play on and turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. The defensive performance was highlighted by an outstanding turn from Navarrete at second base, as well as an outstanding pick by Lee at first.
 
Western Carolina (19-15, 10-2 SoCon) left 17 runners on base Sunday as the Bulldogs' bend-but-don't-break outing nearly came through as a victory.
 
With their win, the first-place Catamounts improved to 9-5 when playing at home this season. Samford has never won a road series at Western Carolina and nearly made history Sunday.
 
Trailing 2-0 in the second inning, the Bulldogs registered two runs in both the second and third innings to garner a 4-2 advantage. Samford's two-run lead held until the bottom of the fourth frame when Western Carolina rallied for three scores to take a 5-4 edge.
 
The Catamounts' Garrett Brown led his squad offensively with a 4-for-5 outing. He also scored a pair of runs as Matt Smith and Holcomb both tallied three-hit performances. Western Carolina's Kramer Ferrell went 2-for-5 at the plate.
 
B.J. Nobles (2-1) came on in relief and pitched four innings to get the victory Sunday, while Samford's Burns (1-1) was issued the loss.
 
"This upcoming week will be a good time for us to try to figure out some things," said Dunn. "We had three straight games with three bad starts, but I'm not worried at all about Parker (Curry), he's been solid for us this month. We need to figure some things out. As good as the bullpen has been as of late, we can't continue to have to go to them that early in games."
 
The Samford University baseball team will next be in action Tuesday at 4 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs welcome the Alabama A&M Bulldogs to Joe Lee Griffin Field for a midweek doubleheader. The second game Tuesday is scheduled to begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first contest.
 
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