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CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The Samford University baseball team used a stellar pitching performance from freshman starter Samuel Strickland and a late offensive explosion to defeat The Citadel Bulldogs on Saturday, 7-0, in the second matchup of this weekend's three-game Southern Conference series being held at Joe Riley Park.
 
With the shutout victory, Samford (18-14, 6-2 SoCon) extended its overall winning streak to seven straight games and increased its conference winning streak to five straight. The Bulldogs have not been defeated since March 25, in a tough-luck 2-1 loss against ETSU.
 
Samford handed The Citadel (12-18, 3-5 SoCon) its sixth straight defeat and limited the homestanding Bulldogs to only five hits in the contest.
 
Additionally, Samford improved to 19-10 all-time over The Citadel. Samford has now claimed the last three series' between the teams, including a 2-1 record last season. In 2017, Samford won the first game 1-0 with The Citadel winning game-two 8-6. Samford notched the series with a 7-4 victory in the finale.
 
The year before, Samford swept all three games, 7-6, 5-4 and 11-7, right here at Joe Riley Park.
 
On Saturday, in a matchup that was pushed up three hours due to expected rain in the area, Samford's Strickland (5-0) hurled seven full innings of shutout ball and limited The Citadel to three total base-runners. The Bulldogs' talented true freshman from Birmingham, Alabama, struck out five hitters and improved his brilliant earned run average to 1.35 this season.
 
So far this year, during his illustrious inaugural collegiate campaign, Strickland has accumulated 44 strikeouts in 40 innings of action and only surrendered a total of six walks.
 
Strickland entered the weekend ranked fourth in the nation in WHIP (0.70).
 
Offensively, Samford's attack was bolstered by a huge three-run homer from junior Troy Dixon in the top of the eighth inning. At the time, the Bulldogs held a 4-0 advantage in the contest, but Dixon put the exclamation point on Samford's victory with his long drive over the right field wall.
 
Dixon finished 1-for-3 at the plate with three RBI and two runs scored, while Brooks Carlson (2-for-3), Max Pinto (2-for-5) and Anthony Mulrine (2-for-5) all posted multi-hit performances Saturday.
 
The Bulldogs' Branden Fryman, Austin Edens, Taylor Garris and Sam Teague also added key hits in the 7-0 victory. Edens drove in a critical run in the top of the sixth inning, while Garris and Teague both scored two runs each.
 
Following Strickland's shutout performance, Samford brought in Erin Baldwin from the bullpen and the Bulldogs' senior flamethrower continued right where Strickland left off. Baldwin only allowed two hits in two innings as he closed out the win.
 
Samford and The Citadel will square off in the third-and-final matchup of this weekend's three-game set Sunday at noon (CT) as the visiting Bulldogs will try to tally their second straight SoCon series sweep on the road here at Joe Riley Park.

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