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GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The Samford University baseball team used clutch pitching from seniors Cody Shelton, Josh Rich and Wyatt Burns, as well as a momentous 370-foot, two-run homer from fellow senior Austin Edens to defeat the Wofford Terriers on Thursday, 5-2, and improve to 2-0 in the Southern Conference Tournament for a second time in four years.
 
With the victory, Samford (34-24) earned Friday off and will return to action Saturday at 11 a.m. (CT) against the fifth-seeded Mercer Bears. The winner of Saturday's matchup will advance to the championship round of the SoCon Tournament.
 
Wofford (36-22) fell to the loser's bracket where the Terriers are scheduled to square off against No. 1-seed UNCG at 1:30 p.m., in an elimination game.
 
A two-run homer from Edens in the bottom of the sixth inning lifted the second-seeded Bulldogs to a 5-2 victory over the No. 3 seed Wofford at the SoCon Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases at Fluor Field.
 
Rich (5-5) picked up the win for Samford, throwing 1.1 innings and allowing one run and a hit. Shelton got the start for the Bulldogs, tossing 4.2 innings and limited Wofford to just one unearned run on three hits. Burns entered in relief in the seventh, surrendering just one hit while striking out four batters and picking up his 12th save of the year.
 
Austin Higginbotham (6-5) was tagged with the complete-game loss for Wofford, pitching all eight innings while striking out five and allowing four earned runs.
 
Samford combined for eight hits in the contest, while Wofford totaled two hits and one error.
 
It was the Terriers who got on the board first after Brett Rodriguez singled and Mack Nathanson reached base via error in the third inning, setting the table for a McClain Bradley RBI single.
 
Samford answered in the bottom half of the inning when Brandon Fryman smacked a lead-off double. Fryman would advance to third when Troy Dixon laid down a sacrifice bunt, later scoring on a wild pitch to even the game at 1-1.
 
In the bottom half of the fourth, Ryan Crockett singled up the middle, later advancing on a fielding error before Edens lifted a fly ball to right field that would give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.
 
In the top of the sixth, Wofford's Colin Davis evened the score with one swing, launching a home run to left field to knot up the score at 2-2.
 
Once again, Samford responded in the bottom half of the inning. Crockett and Anthony Mulrine worked their way on base before Edens came to the plate. After a wild pitch scored Crockett, Edens then smacked a two-run bomb over the left-center field wall to re-establish a Samford lead that it would not relinquish.
 
The Terriers threatened in the seventh when Nathanson singled and worked his way to third two batters later on a throwing error. Burns would get Samford out of trouble, inducing a ground ball to preserve the 5-2 advantage.
 
Burns made quick work of Wofford in the ninth, getting three ground-ball outs to keep Samford in the winner's bracket.
 
The Samford University baseball team will have Friday off before playing for a trip to the championship round of the SoCon Tournament on Saturday at 11 a.m. (CT) against the red-hot Mercer Bears. Mercer is also 2-0 in the championship and is outscoring its opponents 34-0.
 
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