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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team used a pair of late two-run homers from Kevin Williams, Jr., and Jordan Fucci to mount a final-innings comeback against The Citadel Bulldogs on Friday, but its bounce-back rally come up short with the winning run at the plate in a tough 8-6 Southern Conference loss held at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
Following Fucci's two-run dinger in the bottom of the ninth inning, Samford (20-15, 3-5 SoCon) retracted an early 7-2 deficit to an 8-6 mark and still had one out remaining in the game.
 
Next up, the Bulldogs' Taylor Garris was hit by a pitch and trotted to first base with two outs in the inning. Samford's Ayrton Schafer then drew a walk from second baseman turned relief pitcher, Jonathan Sabo, setting up true freshman Anthony Mulrine with an opportunity to register a walk-off hit for a second straight game.
 
Last night, in Samford's thrilling 1-0 victory in the opening, Mulrine tallied the game-winning double.
 
On Friday, with Garris at second and Schafer at first, Mulrine represented the game-winning run as the Bulldogs trailed, 8-6.
 
The Citadel (11-21, 3-5 SoCon) brought in right-hander Jordan Buster to face Mulrine and he was able to get Samford's true freshman catcher out to end the game.
 
With the win, The Citadel evened the series at 1-1 and snapped a five-game losing streak versus Samford.
 
The teams will square off Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT) in the decisive rubber game of the series.
 
The Citadel jumped out to an early 7-3 lead Friday with two runs in the first, two more in the second and then three key scores on a momentous three-run homer from Joe Sabatini in the top of the fifth.
 
Samford tallied a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning before their two-run blasts in the seventh and ninth to aid in its comeback attempt.
 
Williams, Jr.'s blast in the bottom of the seventh proved to be his 11^th of the season. He leads the team in the category and entered the weekend ranked No. 22 in the nation in home runs.
 
The Bulldogs didn't have any two-hit performers against The Citadel, but Williams, Jr., T.J. Dixon, Branden Fryman, Austin Edens and Fucci all registered key base hits in the contest.
 
Samford sent seven pitchers to the mound Friday, including five in the ninth inning. Starting pitcher Mikhail Cazenave (2-5) was issued the loss.
 
The Citadel's Will Abbott (1-3) started the game and earned his first collegiate victory. A true freshman, Abbott only allowed two hits and struck out eight Samford hitters.
 
Samford and The Citadel will square off in the third-and-final game of this weekend's SoCon series Satday at 1 p.m. (CT) at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
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