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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team will begin play in its four-game, regular-season ending homestand Tuesday at 5 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs square off against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in a highly-anticipated in-state showdown to be held at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
Following Tuesday's nonconference matchup, Samford will remain at home to play host to the UNCG Spartans this week in a Southern Conference series to be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The three-game conference set will begin Thursday at 5 p.m., with Friday and Saturday's contests slated to start at 5 p.m., and 1 p.m., respectively.
 
Prior to Saturday's game, Samford will hold a special Senior Day Presentation as the Bulldogs' Jared Brasher, Mikhail Cazenave, Tanner Cunningham and T.J. Dixon will all be honored for their hard work and dedication throughout their collegiate careers.
 
GETTING STARTED
Samford (28-23) enters Tuesday's game with aspirations of bouncing back from a pair of recent losses at ETSU over the weekend. The Bulldogs claimed the opener, 6-3, before dropping the next two matchups in Johnson City, Tennessee, 10-8 and 7-6. Samford closed out its regular-season road schedule with an 11-14 record, including a 4-8 mark in SoCon play.
 
At home this year, the Bulldogs own a 17-9 record, but are 1-3 in their last four games held at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Two weeks ago, Samford came up short against UAB in a midweek contest, 9-3, before dropping two out of three home games against Furman in a SoCon set.
 
The Bulldogs are ranked No. 41 in the nation in fewest hits allowed per nine innings. Samford's pitching staff is only allowing a total of 8.34 hits per game this season and is currently ranked first in the conference with a 4.43 earned run average.
 
Offensively, true freshman third baseball Taylor Garris paces the Bulldogs with a .358 batting average this season. Samford's talented native of Sarasota, Florida, has also scored 31 runs, 29 RBI and four home runs this year.
 
The Bulldogs' T.J. Dixon boasts a .327 average this season and is ranked No. 22 in the nation in stolen bases (21), No. 42 in stolen bases per game (0.41) and No. 59 in triples (4). He also leads the team in runs (43), hits (68), triples (4), RBI (36) and stolen bases (21).
 
Samford's leading home run hitters this season are Kevin Williams, Jr., Ayrton Schafer and Austin Edens. Williams, Jr., paces the Bulldogs with 11 big flies this year, while Schafer and Edens follow with 10 and nine, respectively.
 
DID YOU KNOW?
Under the tutelage of Head Coach Casey Dunn, Samford is the winningest Division I program in the state of Alabama since 2011, and the Bulldogs have had 19 players selected in the MLB Draft over the last six years.
 
THE LAST TIME OUT
With the score tied at 6-6 and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday, ETSU's Hunter Parker placed a game-winning single down the third base line that scored Christian Bailey and lifted the homestanding Buccaneers to a 7-6 walk-off victory over the Samford Bulldogs in the decisive game of the SoCon series held at Thomas Stadium.
 
Parker's grounder, which was deemed to have crossed third base before bouncing in foul territory left of the bag, nearly prolonged Parker's ninth-inning at-bat against Samford's relief pitcher Wyatt Burns.
 
Burns entered the game for the Bulldogs in the bottom of the seventh inning with Samford trailing ETSU by a score of 6-4. He struck out four batters in 2.2 innings of action before Parker's controversial walk-off single.
 
With the Bucs' win, they claimed the weekend SoCon series, 2-1. The Bulldogs won the first game, 6-3, before falling short in Saturday's nightcap, 10-8.

Samford trailed ETSU, 6-4, in the top of the eighth inning when Schafer roped a one-out single to right field. The Bulldogs' Anthony Mulrine then drew a walk as Schafer advanced to third on a wild pitch. Sophomore Troy Dixon followed with a walk of his own to load the bases before his older brother, senior T.J. Dixon, smacked a single to right field to score Schafer from third.
 
Next up, Samford's Branden Fryman sent a sacrifice fly to center field to score Mulrine and tie the game at 6-6.
 
Mulrine led the Bulldogs with three RBI on Sunday. He finished 1-for-3 at the plate and blasted a three-run, base-clearing double off the wall in left field in the sixth inning.
 
Samford's T.J. Dixon, Edens and Schafer all notched two hits apiece in the contest, while Garris and Williams, Jr., also added base-knocks.
 
ETSU jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Buccaneers rallied for four runs in the fourth frame, as well as single tallies in the third and fifth stanzas.
 
The Bulldogs started their comeback bid with a single run in the fifth before Mulrine's three-score double made it a game again in the top of the sixth. Samford's two-run tally in the eighth knotted the matchup at 6-6.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Jacksonville State (27-23) heads into Tuesday's game having been victorious in eight of its last 13 outings, including wins in each of its last three Ohio Valley Conferences series' against Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State and UT Martin. Over the weekend, the Gamecocks played a three-game set at UT Martin and won the first two games by scores of 5-4 and 8-5. Jacksonville State dropped the finale, 7-2, on Sunday.
 
The Gamecocks have been playing the role of Nomads this season while the 7.5-million-dollar renovations at the JSU Baseball Stadium are taking place. Jacksonville State has played 33 of its 50 games on the road this year, while its "home" games have been held in Oxford at Choccolocco Park.
 
Offensively, the Gamecocks are ranked No. 68 in the nation in hits this season and boast four players hitting at least .300. Junior Clayton Daniel leads Jacksonville State with a .335 batting average, while Chase Robinson (.306), Andrew Naismith (.304) and Trent Simpson (.303) all follow closely with solid marks this year.
 
Naismith and Simpson both share the team's lead in home runs with eight. Simpson, the Gamecocks' junior first baseman from Oxford, also paces Jacksonville State in RBI (41) and doubles (18).
 
BULLDOGS' RECORD AGAINST JACKSONVILLE STATE - - THE DUNN ERA
Since Dunn took the reins to Samford's baseball program in 2004, the Bulldogs have compiled a 13-20 overall record against Jacksonville State. Last season, Samford swept the annual home-and-home series with wins of 10-7 at home and 7-6 on the road. Earlier this season, the Bulldogs suffered a 9-5 setback against the Gamecocks in a frigid matchup held March 14, on the road in Oxford.
 
TUESDAY'S PITCHING MATCHUP
Samford - - RHP, Erin Baldwin, Jr. (Lake Charles, Louisiana) || 1-0 (5.52 ERA)
Jacksonville State - - RHP, Michael McCreless, Sr. (Huntsville) || 0-2 (8.69 ERA)
 
QUICK NOTES ON SAMFORD
(1.): Samford owns a perfect 22-0 record when leading after six innings this season. The Bulldogs are also 21-0 after seven and 22-0 when leading after eight frames.
 
(2.): Samford holds an impressive 21-3 record when scoring first this year. Additionally, the Bulldogs boast a 9-4 record in one-run games.
 
(3.): Four different Samford players have earned five-RBI performances this season. Edens and Williams, Jr., have both accomplished the feat, as have true freshmen Schafer and Garris. Schafer has registered five RBI in a single game twice this season.
 
SCHAFER NAMED SAMFORD'S PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Samford's Schafer hit .500 (5-for-10) last week with two home runs, six RBI, five runs scored and a double. The Bulldogs' true freshman also posted a 1.200 slugging percentage and a .615 on-base percentage. Schafer tallied at least one hit in all three games, including back-to-back, two-hit performances Saturday and Sunday on the road at ETSU.
 
On Saturday, Samford's designated hitter blasted a pair of home runs against the Bucs, including a key grand slam as Schafer drove in five of the Bulldogs' eight runs in the matchup. In three games last week, he finished 1-for-2, 2-for-4 and 2-for-4. Schafer also reached base three times via walk and only struck out twice in a total of 13 plate appearances.
 
SAMFORD IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
 
Team - - - - -
#41 | Fewest Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings (8.34)
#54 | Double Plays Turned (44)
#55 | Pitching Strikeouts Per Nine Innings (8.5)
#62 | Home Runs (47)
#68 | Home Runs Per Game (0.92)
#68 | Double Plays Per Game (0.86)
 
Wyatt Burns - - - - -
#11 | Saves (12)
 
Mikhail Cazenave - - - - -
#20 | Games Started (13)
 
T.J. Dixon - - - - -
#22 | Stolen Bases (21)
#42 | Stolen Bases Per Game (0.41)
#59 | Triples (4)
 
Branden Fryman - - - - -
#37 | Sacrifice Bunts (10)
 
Cody Shelton - - - - -
#47 | Earned Run Average (2.18)
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Tuesday's midweek showdown against Jacksonville State, the Samford University baseball team will next be in action Thursday at 5 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs welcome the UNCG Spartans to Birmingham for a key regular-season ending SoCon series to be held at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Friday's game is slated to be held at 5 p.m., while Saturday's finale is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
 
Prior to Saturday's game, Samford will hold a special Senior Day Presentation as the Bulldogs' Brasher, Cazenave, Cunningham and T.J. Dixon will all be honored for their hard work and dedication throughout their collegiate careers.
 
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.

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