Game 1 (Friday, April 8, 6 p.m.): Video (Free) | Radio | Live Stats
Game 2 (Saturday, April 9, 2 p.m.): Video (Free) | Radio | Live Stats
Game 3 (Sunday, April 10, 1 p.m.): Video (Free) | Radio | Live Stats
Samford Game Notes | TicketsBIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team will play host to the Wofford Terriers this weekend in a key home Southern Conference contest to be held at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The three-game set is slated to begin Friday at 6 p.m. (CDT) with Saturday's contest scheduled to start at 2 p.m. On Sunday, the teams will meet in the final game of the series at 1 p.m.
Samford (16-13, 3-3 SoCon) enters Friday's series opener with hopes of bouncing back from a tough 5-3 road loss to Troy on Tuesday. The defeat proved to be the Bulldogs' first against an in-state opponent this season as they had their nine-game winning streak snapped versus foes from Alabama.
Prior to Tuesday's setback, Samford took two out of three from Mercer in a huge weekend home series against the Bears. The Bulldogs rallied for a decisive 11-5 victory in the opener, while Mercer bounced back to upend Samford on Saturday, 5-3. In Sunday's rubber game, the Bulldogs' pitching staff turned in a brilliant performance as they topped the Bears in a pitching duel, 3-1, to win the series.
Heading into the 2016 season, Samford was predicted by the coaches to finish first, while the media picked Mercer to repeat as conference champions.
Samford's starting pitcher Friday will be junior right hander
Jared Brasher (2-3, 2.92 ERA). Last season, Brasher only tallied one appearance against Wofford as he suffered a loss in a 5-2 road game held in Spartanburg, South Carolina. This weekend, Samford's starters for Saturday and Sunday are both listed as TBA.
In six games against the Terriers last season, the Bulldogs'
Richard Greene posted a stellar .429 batting average, while
Heath Quinn posted a .423 mark with two home runs and 13 RBI.
Austin Edens, who was just a freshman last season, blasted five homers in six games and just 26 at-bats versus Wofford.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITIONWofford (16-15, 1-5) heads into this weekend's three-game series with aspirations of snapping its current six-game losing streak. Since winning at Mercer on March 26, 7-5, the Terriers have dropped consecutive outings against Presbyterian, 6-5 (10), Western Carolina, 9-1, 14-4 and 12-3, as well as Baylor, 9-5 and 4-0.
Wofford has been defeated in eight of its last nine outings this season and owns a 3-8 record when playing on the road.
The Terriers' starting pitchers in the series will be right hander Matt Milburn on Friday, southpaw Adam Scott on Saturday and right-handed pitcher Jacob Condra-Bogan on Sunday. Milburn owns a 4-3 record on the year with a 4.87 earned-run average, while Scott holds a 3-3 mark with a 7.22 ERA. Condra-Bogan, Wofford's junior native of Woodruff, South Carolina, has compiled a 3-2 record this season with a 6.81 ERA.
Offensively, the Terriers are being paced by sophomore right fielder McClain Bradley, who boasts a .345 batting average with 20 runs scored and 18 RBI. Senior shortstop Derek Hirsch is also batting over .300 this season with a mark of .333 in 69 at-bats.
BULLDOGS' RECORD AGAINST WOFFORD - - THE DUNN ERASince Head Coach
Casey Dunn took the reins to the Bulldogs' baseball program in 2004, Samford has compiled a 17-9 record against Wofford. Last season, the Bulldogs and Terriers squared off six times with each team winning three games.
In the annual regular-season series, Wofford took two out of three from Samford in a SoCon set held in Spartanburg. The teams later met three times in two days at the 2015 SoCon Tournament as the Bulldogs won twice to advance to the championship game of the competition.
In its final win against the Terriers, Samford exploded for a huge 25-4 triumph, which proves to be the Bulldogs' largest margin of victory since 1989 when they defeated Miles College, 23-1.
SAMFORD vs. WOFFORD - - LAST SEASONIn six outings against the Terriers in 2015, the Bulldogs compiled a 3-3 record. Samford finished 1-2 on the road at Wofford in its annual three-game series, but then knocked the Terriers out of the SoCon Tournament with a 25-4 victory. The Bulldogs actually faced Wofford in three straight games in the SoCon Tournament and tallied a 2-1 record.
In six matchups with the Terriers last season, Samford outscored Wofford 56-39. The teams averaged 15.8 runs per game in the 2015 series, with the Bulldogs tallying 9.3 scores per outing.
BULLDOGS' QUINN NAMED MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICAN BY PERFECT GAMESamford's Quinn received yet another national honor Thursday as the Bulldogs' junior right fielder from Birmingham was named a Midseason All-American by Perfect Game USA. Quinn, the nation's leading home run hitter with 14 this season, proved to be one of only 10 players to garner the prestigious nationwide honor.
Joining Quinn on the Midseason All-America list was Kyle Lewis from Mercer, therefore the SoCon boasts two of the nation's top-10 players at the midway point of the 2016 campaign.
IT'S TIME TO PULL AWAYIn the sixth, seventh and eighth innings this season, Samford is outscoring its opponents by a jaw-dropping total of 91-41. So far this year, the Bulldogs have already scored a total of 207 runs, while nearly half of those runs were tallied in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
More specifically, Samford is outscoring the opposition, 36-13, in the sixth stanza, 28-15 in the seventh and 27-13 in the eighth inning.
SAMFORD'S SOCON ACTIVE CAREER LEADERSPlayer, Category (Value)T.J. Dixon, Stolen Bases (54)
T.J. Dixon, Triples (10)
Heath Quinn, RBI (147)
Heath Quinn, Home Runs (37)
SAMFORD PICKED FIRST BY COACHESFor 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.
MIAMI NICE - - SAMFORD'S TALENTED SOUTH BEACH MIDDLE INFIELDSamford boasts one of the best middle infield duos in the SoCon 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 29 games at the position this year and has only committed one error this season in a total of 130 chances.
Navarrete, Samford's speedy second baseman and graduate of Christopher Columbus High School, has started in 26 of the team's 29 games this season and has only committed four errors.
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?Following this weekend's critical three-game SoCon homestand against Wofford, the Samford
University baseball team will next be in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs welcome the Alabama State Hornets to Joe Lee Griffin Field for a key in-state contest.
Earlier this season, Samford and Alabama State squared off in Montgomery, Ala., on March 15, and the Bulldogs rallied late for an 18-7 victory.
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Game 1 (Friday, April 8, 6 p.m.): Video (Free) | Radio | Live Stats
Game 2 (Saturday, April 9, 2 p.m.): Video (Free) | Radio | Live Stats
Game 3 (Sunday, April 10, 1 p.m.): Video (Free) | Radio | Live Stats
Samford Game Notes | Tickets
