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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team received a dramatic game-tying double from junior T.J. Dixon on Saturday to send the game into extra innings against the VMI Keydets, but the Bulldogs ultimately came up short in the 10^th inning, 6-5, as they suffered a heart-wrenching loss in their final game of the regular season held at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
"This was a tough one for our club today," said Samford head coach Casey Dunn. "You always hate to lose on Senior Day, but with the way that the league is set up this season, if you don't play your best baseball, then you can easily get beat by any team in the conference."
 
With the loss, Samford (32-24, 13-11 Southern Conference) finished the season tied for fifth place in the conference standings along with ETSU. Earlier this season, ETSU registered a three-game sweep of the Bulldogs in Birmingham, therefore the Buccaneers won the tiebreaker between the teams.
 
ETSU will be the No. 5 seed in next week's SoCon Tournament, while Samford enters the competition as the No. 6 seed and will face No. 3 UNCG on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. (CDT).
 
VMI (21-34, 4-20 SoCon) concluded the regular season as the No. 9-seeded team in the conference. They Keydets gained some positive momentum Saturday en route to their SoCon Tournament play-in game against No. 8 The Citadel on Tuesday at 9 a.m. (CDT).
 
With two outs in the top of the 10^th inning Saturday, Samford's Wyatt Burns came in to pitch and seemingly struck out VMI's Nathan Eaton on a pretty 0-2 breaking ball that drew gasps from the crowd when it was called a ball from the home plate umpire.
 
As the Keydets' Matt Dunlevy sat on third base, Eaton connected on the very next pitch and sent a seeing-eye double down the left-field line. Dunlevy scored the leading run and gave VMI a 6-5 advantage heading into the bottom of the 10^th inning.
 
Samford's Alex Lee opened the 10^th stanza by drawing a walk. He was then thrown out at second base as Greg Mula's sacrifice attempt proved to be too strong and rolled directly to the pitcher. Following a wild pitch with one out, the Bulldogs' Danny Rodriguez grounded out to first base, but Mula was able to advance to third.
 
Samford's last hope in the bottom of the 10^th inning was sophomore catcher Grant Colton. Colton, who entered the game in the ninth frame, sent a hard-hit, two-hopper to David Geary at third base, but Geary stayed down on the ball and made a difficult play to throw Colton out at first.
 
The Bulldogs' Burns (1-2) was issued the tough late-inning loss, while VMI's Eaton (2-0) earned the victory as he moved from second base to pitch the last two stanzas. Eaton held on for the win and finished the game with one earned run on one hit. He also gave up three walks.
 
The Keydets jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning, but Samford answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the frame as senior Alex Lee doubled home Hunter Swilling and Jared Watson scored Heath Quinn on a sacrifice fly.
 
"I thought Hunter hit well today, but we currently have several guys scuffling right now," Dunn said. "We have to figure out a way to get them hot. It's good to see Hunter get going, but we need to get Danny (Rodriguez) and Frankie (Navarrete) rolling. We've been a bit down in the bottom of our lineup lately and when we were really good last year, it was because we were good one through nine."
 
The Bulldogs were able to even the score at 3-3 as Swilling blasted his 11^th home run of the season well over the wall in center field. Swilling proved to be Samford's top offensive performer Saturday with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate. He also drove in a pair of runs and scored two more in the game.
 
With seven total hits in the contest, the Bulldogs' Austin Edens and Danny Rodriguez also earned singles.
 
VMI was paced by Eaton, who finished 4-for-5 at the dish and drove in three runs. He also scored a pair of runs proved to be the winning pitcher. Matt Pita tallied a 3-for-4 outing, while Dunlevy and Will Malbon both notched a pair of hits apiece.
 
Trailing by a run, 5-4, in the bottom of the ninth, Samford came up with a huge performance to equalize the game and send the contest into extra innings.
 
Samford pinch hitter Troy Dixon opened the frame by battling back to draw a key inning-opening walk. He was then advanced to second base on Frankie Navarrete's clutch sacrifice bunt.
 
Next up, with his younger brother on second, the Bulldogs' T.J. Dixon roped a perfectly-placed line drive down the right-field line. He doubled on the play, while Troy Dixon scored the game-tying run and sent the game into extra innings.
 
Samford sent six pitchers to the hill Saturday. True freshman Stephen Jones started the game and allowed three earned runs on four hits in four full innings of action. Jack Rude, Caleb Maggio, Tanner Cunningham and Connor Radcliff all pitched one frame in the game, while Burns hurled the final two innings.
 
"Now, it's a new start for this team," said Dunn. "Heading into the tournament, it's easier to regroup, because it's a fresh start and a new season, and we can still reach our goals for the year. That's my hope right now. As we roll into the tournament on Wednesday, everybody is 0-0 and everybody has just about as good of a chance to win the whole thing. We just need to go win that first game and go from there."
 
The Samford University baseball team will next be in action Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. (CDT) as the sixth-seeded Bulldogs open SoCon Tournament play against No. 3 UNCG from Fluor Field in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. Earlier this season, Samford faced off against the Spartans in a three-game set held in Greensboro, North Carolina, and took two of the three contests to win the series.
 
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Box Score
Updated Stats
SoCon Tournament Bracket