Game 1 (Thursday, Noon CDT):  Video  |  Radio  |  Live Stats
Game 2 (Thursday, 3 p.m. CDT):  Video  |  Radio  |  Live Stats
Game 3 (Saturday, 1 p.m. CDT):  Video  |  Radio  |  Live Stats

Samford Game Notes  |  Tickets

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team will begin play in its final three-game set of the regular season Thursday as the Bulldogs welcome the VMI Keydets to Joe Lee Griffin Field for a series-opening doubleheader slated to start at noon (CDT). The second game of the doubleheader will begin approximately 45 minutes following the conclusion of Thursday's first meeting.
 
Samford (30-23, 11-10 SoCon) enters its final series of the regular season with a bit of positive momentum after earning a three-game road sweep of The Citadel last week.
 
Despite falling at Alabama on Tuesday, 8-2, the Bulldogs have been victorious in 14 of their last 23 games and are eager to avenge their most recent home series, which proved to be a disappointing three-game setback versus ETSU on May 6-8.
 
Since then, Samford has rolled to a 4-1 record, including a key 3-1 victory against crosstown-rival UAB last week.
 
The Bulldogs head into Thursday's doubleheader ranked No. 4 in the nation in home runs (4) and sixth in the country in home runs per game (1.34). Samford is also No. 16 in slugging percentage (.479), No. 17 in hits (563) and 21st in runs scored.
 
Junior Heath Quinn leads the Bulldogs in batting average at .349, while sophomore designated hitter Austin Edens follows closely at .343. Quinn and Edens both share Samford's lead in home runs this season with 18. Senior first baseman Alex Lee boasts a .325 batting average, as junior center fielder T.J. Dixon is also hitting above .300 with a solid mark of .315.
 
The Bulldogs' pitching staff leads the SoCon this season with a nice 4.86 earned-run average. Samford's opponents are hitting .266 in 2016 and have only reached the 10-run plateau four times in 53 games.
 
The Bulldogs are only allowing an average of 5.5 runs per contest this season. Conversely, Samford is averaging 7.2 runs per game and have scored in double figures 17 times, including a 20-run outburst against Troy on March 8.
 
Samford owns an 18-12 record when playing at home this year, but has been defeated in its last three games held at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
THIS WEEK'S PITCHING MATCHUPS
 
GAME #1
VMI - - - #36 RHP Josh Winder (4-4, 5.28 ERA - - - Freshman, Richmond, Va.)
Samford - - - #2 RHP Parker Curry (6-2, 3.46 ERA - - - Senior, Pelham, Ala.)
 
GAME #2
VMI - - - #19 RHP Matthew Eagle (5-6, 5.92 ERA - - - Sophomore, Norfolk, Va.)
Samford - - - #14 RHP Mikhail Cazenave (3-1, 6.29 ERA - - - Junior, Rainbow City, Ala.)
 
GAME #3
VMI - - - #35 LHP Brandon Barbery (3-7, 6.18 ERA - - - Sophomore, Manassas, Va.)
Samford - - - #37 RHP Stephen Jones (4-2, 3.66 ERA - - - Freshman, Tallahassee, Fla.)
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
VMI (20-32, 3-18 SoCon) enters this week's SoCon series with hopes of bouncing back from a pair of losses at home against Furman over the weekend. The Keydets knocked off the Paladins in game one, 10-6, but dropped the last two meetings of the series, 15-4 and 3-1.
 
VMI has struggled when competing on the road this season. The Keydets are 2-16 when playing in true away games this year, with their road victories coming against Radford (April 5) and Mercer (April 16).
 
VMI has suffered five straight losses on the road and are 4-15 overall since April 5, including a 2-13 mark against SoCon opponents.
 
The Keydets' top offensive performers have been senior third baseman David Geary, freshman left fielder Matt Pita and sophomore first baseman Collin Fleischer.
 
Geary, VMI's talented native of Richmond, Virginia, leads the squad with a .330 batting average this season and has scored a team-high 47 runs. Pita follows closely with a .320 average, while Fleischer enters this week's series with a .302 mark. Fleischer also leads the team in both home runs (14) and RBI (45).
 
The Keydets' pitching staff is allowing an average of 7.6 runs per game this season and owns a 6.80 earned run average. VMI's opponents are hitting .307 this year and have hit a total of 69 home runs against the Keydets.
 
BULLDOGS' RECORD VERSUS VMI - - THE DUNN ERA
Since Head Coach Casey Dunn took the reins to the Bulldogs' baseball program in 2004, Samford has compiled a 2-1 record against VMI. Last season marked the first time that the teams met as SoCon rivals and the Bulldogs took two out of three games on the road in Lexington, Virginia.
 
In a three-game set held March 27-29, Samford exploded for a 15-2 triumph in the opener, but then dropped a 6-2 decision in game two. The Bulldogs wrapped up the series with a victory in the rubber game by earning a 10-5 triumph.
 
Samford and VMI have never squared off in Birmingham. Thursday's opener will be the first time that the teams meet at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
SAMFORD'S DUNN REACHES 350-WIN MARK
On March 18, the Bulldogs earned an 8-5 home victory against Jacksonville. With the triumph, Samford head coach Casey Dunn reached the 350-win plateau in his 12th season at the helm of the Bulldogs' baseball program.
 
Dunn was named Samford's head baseball coach in August 2004. Under his leadership, the Bulldogs have posted 30-plus wins in nine of the last 11 seasons, now including the 2016 campaign. The team has also played in the SoCon Tournament title game in four of the last five years.
 
In 2012, Dunn coached the Bulldogs to their first SoCon championship and NCAA Tournament bid. The team also set a school record for wins with 41. Also in 2012, Dunn's squad produced a school-record seven Major League Baseball Draft picks, and it had a total of nine players sign with MLB teams.
 
PLENTY OF EXPERIENCE
Samford returned all nine position starters and two starting pitchers from last year and tallied a league-high seven players on the preseason all-conference teams.
 
The Bulldogs, who have played in four of the last five SoCon Tournament title games, placed a league-high seven players on the two preseason squads, including a SoCon-best four on the first team. Samford paced the conference in preseason picks for the second straight year and were the coaches' preseason pick to win the league.
 
QUINN SETS SCHOOL'S RBI RECORD
On Sunday at The Citadel, the Bulldogs' Quinn turned in a 3-for-4 performance at the plate and drove in three runs. With his three RBI outing, Quinn moved past former Bulldog-great Brandon Miller and set the school's single-season record in RBI with 66. Quinn, the SoCon's active leader in career RBI, has already tallied 67 RBI this season and boasts 171 in his career as a junior.
 
BULLDOGS' EDENS ALREADY PUTTING UP CAREER NUMBERS
In less than two full seasons at Samford, the Bulldogs' Edens has already compiled 34 career home runs, 111 RBI and 89 runs scored. Samford's slugger also owns a phenomenal .350 career batting average, 278 total bases, 147 hits and a .662 slugging percentage.
 
Last season, Edens powered 16 home runs as a true freshman in 55 games. Already this year, the Bulldogs' first-team preseason all-American has surpassed that total and set a new season-high mark of 18 home runs, while adding 57 RBI.
 
WINNING BIG HAS BEEN THE TREND
The Bulldogs have outscored their opponents by a total of 377-282 this season, for a stellar run differential of 95. In its 30 wins over the course of the 2016 campaign, Samford is averaging a boastful 5.8-run margin of victory. Conversely, in the Bulldogs' 23 losses this season, the opposition's margin of victory has only been 3.7 runs.
 
SAMFORD'S ACTIVE SOCON CAREER LEADERS
Player, Category (Value)
T.J. Dixon, Stolen Bases (60)
T.J. Dixon, Triples (10)
Heath Quinn, RBI (171)
Heath Quinn, Home Runs (41)
Heath Quinn, Doubles (46)
 
SECOND-INNING STRETCH
So far this season, Samford is outscoring its opponents by a total of 46-26 in the second inning. Additionally, the Bulldogs are also outscoring the opposition, 42-31, in the third inning for a combined total of 88-57 in the second and third frames.
 
SAMFORD'S LEE NAMED LOUISVILLE SLUGGER NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Samford's Lee continued to garner high-profile accolades on April 25, as the Bulldogs' senior cleanup hitter was named a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, it was officially announced by the organization's headquarters.
 
Lee hit .500, slugged 1.000 and had an on-base percentage of .565 as the Bulldogs split a midweek doubleheader with Alabama A&M before taking two of three from Kansas over the weekend. Lee hit three home runs, scored seven runs and drove in 10 on the week. He had multiple hits in four of his five contests.
 
BULLDOGS' PRESEASON ALL-SOCON PLAYERS
Samford's Lee (first base), Hunter Swilling (third base), Quinn (outfield) and 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 Dixon.
 
IT'S RALLY TIME
Already this season, Samford has scored 10 runs in an inning TWICE and nine runs in an inning once. The first time that the Bulldogs scored double-digits in a single inning occurred 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.
 
Additionally, in its series-opening contest against Mercer on April 1, Samford rallied for nine runs and sent 14 hitters to the plate in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Bulldogs went from trailing 5-2 in the game to taking a decisive 11-5 decision.
 
SCORING SIX IS THE KEY
Samford owns a significant 23-2 record this season when scoring six or more runs. Conversely, the Bulldogs are just 7-21 this year when scoring five runs or fewer. Samford also boasts a 16-4 record in 2016 when scoring a run in the first inning. Additionally, Samford holds a 20-10 record this season when scoring before its opponent.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following this week's home series against VMI, the Samford University baseball team will next be in action Wednesday as the Bulldogs begin play in the 2016 SoCon Tournament being held at Fluor Field in downtown Greenville, South Carolina.
 
Samford's opening-game opponent in the true double-elimination competition has yet to be determined. The tournament seeds and first-round matchups are still undecided and will be settled by the results of this week's remaining slate of SoCon contests.
 
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.

Game 1 (Thursday, Noon CDT):  Video  |  Radio  |  Live Stats
Game 2 (Thursday, 3 p.m. CDT):  Video  |  Radio  |  Live Stats
Game 3 (Saturday, 1 p.m. CDT):  Video  |  Radio  |  Live Stats

Samford Game Notes  |  Tickets