Game 1:  Friday at 5 p.m. (CT) - - Video  |  Live Stats
Game 2:  Saturday at 3 p.m. (CT) - - Video  |  Live Stats
Game 3:  Sunday at 11 a.m. (CT) - - Video  |  Live Stats

Samford Game Notes

LEXINGTON, Va. -- The Samford University baseball team will begin play in its 2017 Southern Conference schedule Friday at 5 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs open a three-game road series against the VMI Keydets to be held at Gray-Minor Stadium.
 
Samford (16-9, 0-0 SoCon) enters conference play this weekend boasting a three-game winning streak. The Bulldogs, since Saturday, have registered back-to-back road victories at Kansas, 8-6 and 6-1, as well as a 5-1 crosstown triumph at UAB.
 
Samford has been victorious in 13 of its last 17 games, including a 5-3 record on the road. Overall this season, the Bulldogs are 6-6 in road contests, but three of those losses occurred in Tallahassee, Florida, against the No. 5-ranked Florida State Seminoles.
 
THE LAST TIME OUT
Samford extended its winning streak to three straight games Tuesday as the Bulldogs earned a 5-1 road victory against their crosstown rivals, the UAB Blazers, in a midweek nonconference contest held at Regions Field.
 
Samford used a brilliant pitching performance from starting pitcher Cody Shelton, as well as dominant relievers Josh Rich, Erin Baldwin, Jared Brasher and Wyatt Burns.
 
The Bulldogs' pitching staff only allowed a total of seven hits and one base on balls. Shelton started in his third straight midweek game and continued his string of solid outings. Samford's talented sophomore right-hander only allowed one run on four hits in five full innings of action. Shelton also tallied four strikeouts in the victory.
 
The bullpen also proved to be outstanding for the Bulldogs.
 
Samford's relievers only allowed a total of three hits in four innings, while striking out six Blazers. Rich pitched a perfect sixth frame for the Bulldogs, as the "Killer B's" (Baldwin, Brasher and Burns) then followed to close out the last three innings.
 
SAMFORD'S OFFENSIVE ATTACK
Samford scored a run in the fourth, two in the fifth and added a pair of huge insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning against UAB to extend its decisive lead to 5-1.
 
The Bulldogs' top of the order set the tone with nine of the team's 12 hits Tuesday, but sophomore Sam Teague and true freshman Taylor Garris also added some punch from the eight and nine holes in the contest. Teague finished 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Garris upped his team-leading batting average to .357 on the season with a perfect 2-for-2 outing.
 
Senior T.J. Dixon, Branden Fryman, Kevin Williams, Jr., and Austin Edens provided two-hit performances against UAB. The Bulldogs also received a key hit and an RBI from sophomore second baseman Troy Dixon. Samford outhit UAB, 12-7, on Tuesday.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
VMI (12-13, 1-2 SoCon) heads into Friday's series-opening contest with a two-game winning streak. After losing Sunday's rubber-game matchup at The Citadel, 4-2, the Keydets earned back-to-back midweek victories on the road against James Madison, 6-1, and Longwood, 6-4.
 
VMI has played its last six games on the road and compiled a 3-3 record during the stretch. The Keydets opened the road trek with a 7-0 loss at William & Mary before dropping two out of three at The Citadel in their first SoCon series of the season.
 
On Tuesday, first baseman Collin Fleischer returned to the VMI lineup for the first time since March 19, and on Wednesday, he broke a 0 for 16 slump with a 2-for-2, two-RBI game at Longwood. With nine doubles, Peyton Maddox is tied for fourth in the SoCon in that category and has already surpassed his total of eight from last season.
 
Infielder Jake Huggins, seeing the first regular playing time of his career, has hit safely in five straight contests and has driven in five runs during that time.
 
VMI's Friday starter, Josh Winder, is one of only three pitchers in the SoCon - entering the weekend - to rank in the conference's top six in ERA, opposing batting average, innings pitched and strikeouts. He joins JP Sears of The Citadel and Will Gaddis of Furman.
 
Perhaps the biggest success story for VMI baseball this season has been Ryan Bennett. The fifth-year senior and co-closer, Bennett entered 2017 with a 1-3 record and an 8.83 ERA in 18 career appearances. He had 22 walks and 24 career strikeouts. In 2017, Bennett has struck out 15, walked only three and holds the tiniest of ERA's, a stellar 0.69. Bennett is 2-0 on the year with three saves.
 
By winning his last two midweek starts, freshman righty Zak Kent became the first Keydet pitcher to win two straight starts in the midweek since 2013, when T.J. Lighton beat Richmond and Virginia Tech on March 20 and 26, 2013.
 
SAMFORD'S STARTING ROTATION
Friday - - RHP, Mikhail Cazenave, Sr. (Rainbow City, Alabama) - - 2-2 (4.67 ERA)
Saturday - - RHP, Jesse McCord, So. (Spanish Fort, Alabama) - - 2-2 (5.97 ERA)
Sunday - - RHP, Stephen Jones, So. (Tallahassee, Florida) - - 2-1 (5.27 ERA)
 
VMI'S STARTING ROTATION
Friday - - RHP, Josh Winder, So. (Richmond, Va.) - - 3-2 (3.11 ERA)
Saturday - - RHP, Matt Eagle, Jr. (Norfolk, Va.) - - 2-0 (3.45 ERA)
Sunday - - LHP, Brandon Barbery, Jr. (Manassas, Va.) - - 0-4 (6.30 ERA)
 
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 4-2 record against VMI. Last season marked just the second time that the teams met as SoCon rivals and the Bulldogs took two out of three games at home in Birmingham, Alabama.
 
In a three-game set held at Joe Lee Griffin Field last season from May 19-21, Samford swept a Friday doubleheader, 7-6 and 7-0, but then dropped the final game of the series Sunday, 6-5.
 
Two years ago, in the only games of the series held at Gray-Minor Stadium, 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.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following this weekend's three-game road series at VMI, the Samford University baseball team will next be in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham, Alabama, for a nonconference contest against the Alabama A&M Bulldogs to be held at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
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:  Friday at 5 p.m. (CT) - - Video  |  Live Stats
Game 2:  Saturday at 3 p.m. (CT) - - Video  |  Live Stats
Game 3:  Sunday at 11 a.m. (CT) - - Video  |  Live Stats

Samford Game Notes