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CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The Samford University baseball team overcame a one-run deficit in the top of the eighth inning Saturday as the Bulldogs scored three runs in the frame to garner a 5-3 advantage over The Citadel en route to a thrilling 5-4 triumph in a key Southern Conference showdown held at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
 
"This was a good way to finish out the game," said Samford head coach Casey Dunn. "If you were watching it, this was sort of the story of our season, we don't do anything easy. It was obviously an exciting win. We had some big hits, some big pitches made and this was a good one for us today."
 
Samford (29-22, 10-10 SoCon) tallied three runs in the top of the eighth inning as Heath Quinn opened the frame with an infield single. He then advanced to second base on a groundout from Austin Edens. With two outs in the inning, the Bulldogs' Jared Watson sent a clutch single up the middle and Quinn motored around third base to score and even the game at 3-3.
 
Samford wasn't done there. Next up, the Bulldogs Danny Rodriguez drew a walk and pinch hitter Jordan Fucci blasted a deep double off the wall in right field. Fucci's huge hit scored two more runs for Samford and gave the visitors a critical 5-3 advantage.
 
Fucci, the Bulldogs' talented freshman left-handed hitter from Lexington, Kentucky, is batting .429 this season.
 
"I tell you what, it's a shame that Jordan doesn't have more at-bats than he does, because every time we put him in there he produces," Dunn said. "As good as he's been this year, there was not a bigger swing, or bigger at-bat than what he gave us today."
 
The Citadel (16-35, 6-14 SoCon) was able to push across a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, but Samford's Jake Greer (3-1) came in to stop the rally and to maintain a 5-4 lead.
 
In the bottom of the ninth inning, The Citadel looked poised to mount a late rally, but the Bulldogs' Wyatt Burns came in to force Shy Phillips to pop out to first base for the second out of the frame.
 
With the game-tying run at first base in Clay Martin, The Citadel's Mike Deese roped a hard-hit grounder up the middle. In what seemingly appeared to be an easy base hit, Samford's Rodriguez had different thoughts as he dove and made an improbable stop deep in the hole. He then quickly jumped to his feet and flipped the ball to Frankie Navarrete at second base for the final out of the game.
 
"That was a great play by Danny and Frankie there to end the game," Dunn said. "All-around, I thought we played well defensively. That part of the game sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, but also Ben (Carrick) and Grant (Colton) were both outstanding behind the plate tonight. With Richard (Greene) being out with his injury, those guys have just filled in and done a great job for us."
 
The Bulldogs' Wyatt notched his sixth save of the year and his third in three games.
 
Samford tallied its third straight victory and improved to 11-10 when playing on the road this season. The road series win also proved to be its second in a row. Two weeks ago, the Bulldogs traveled to first-place UNCG and took two out of three from the streaking Spartans.
 
With The Citadel's loss, it moved to 12-18 when playing at home this season.
 
Offensively, Samford was paced by T.J. Dixon, Quinn, Watson and Rodriguez on Saturday. All four of the aforementioned Bulldogs recorded two hits in the contest. Rodriguez scored a pair of runs, while Quinn and Watson both scored a run and added an RBI. Dixon drove in a big run in the top of the fifth inning as he neatly place a single through the left side of the infield.
 
Samford's Hunter Swilling, Austin Edens and Ben Carrick also added base hits as the Bulldogs tallied 12 hits in the game.
 
The Citadel finished with seven hits, but two of them cleared the wall as first baseman Ben Peden powered a pair of home runs and drove in three of his team's four runs. Peden and Bret Hines both notched two hits apiece, while Stephen Windham, Barrett Charpia and William Kinney also tallied base hits.
 
Samford starting pitcher Mikhail Cazenave turned in one of his best outings of the season Saturday. The Bulldogs' junior native of Rainbow City, Alabama, has continued to improve throughout the 2016 campaign and notched a career-high eight strikeouts in 6.2 innings against The Citadel.
 
Cazenave only allowed three earned runs on six hits in the game and two of those occurred on an early home run from Peden.
 
"I thought Mikhail really threw the ball well today," said Dunn. "He really did a good job. Early on, he walked a guy and they made him pay with a home run, but after that he settled in and threw the ball exceptionally well. In hindsight, I probably should have left him in and let him close out that last inning, but he obviously took another step forward in his progression this season."
 
The Bulldogs sent six pitchers to the mound. Following Cazenave's brilliant start, Samford's Tanner Cunningham, Josh Rich, Greer, Jared Brasher and Burns all spent time on the mound. The Bulldogs' staff combined for nine strikeouts and only allowed four earned runs.
 
The Citadel's Zach Lavery (2-5) was issued the loss. He allowed three earned runs on five hits in three innings of action.
 
"This weekend is a chance for us to build some momentum," said Dunn. "It's a chance for us to keep trying to get better and I think we have some guys starting to make a bit of progress."
 
Samford and The Citadel will square off in the third-and-final game of this weekend's three-game set Sunday at noon (CDT) as the Bulldogs go for the road series sweep at Joseph P. Riley, Jr., Park.
 
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