BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University baseball team built a big lead early and never looked back on its way to an 11-3 win over 22^nd-ranked Wofford in the second game of a three-game Southern Conference series Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
With the win, Samford secures the series win over the Terriers. The Bulldogs improve to 20-20 overall and 7-4 in Southern Conference play. Wofford falls to 30-13 overall and 8-3 in league action.
 
"This was a complete performance by our guys," Samford head coach Tony David said. "They were in a tough situation, I don't know the status of their guy, but their starter ended up not being able to go after he went down to the bullpen. But like I told our guys, they got that run in the first, but we did a great job of, every time they scored, we scored. Baseball is a sport of momentum and there is no bigger momentum team than Wofford. We did a great job."
 
Stephen Klein led Samford at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Will David went 2-for-3 with a home run and one RBI, while Towns King also homered for the Bulldogs. Colton Ledbetter went 2-for-5 with an RBI for Samford. Michael Ross (4-1) pitched 6.0 innings, giving up two runs on six hits and striking out five batters to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Alex Goff picked up his first save of the season, tossing the final 3.0 innings, allowing one run on four hits.
 
"Ross didn't have his best stuff, but man he competed, and he got us into the sixth by throwing a bunch of strikes and controlling the run game again," David said. "We had a lot of good swings in that second inning. We got the ball to fly out of the park and (Blake) Bortak did a good job with the small ball, getting a couple of bunts down. And then we got some really timely hits."
 
For Wofford, Nolen Hester and John Dempsey both homered. Lawson Hill went 3-for-3, while Ryan Galanie went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Lucas Mahlstedt (2-1) pitched 1.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits to take the loss for the Terriers.
 
Wofford got on the scoreboard first when Dempsey hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning for a 1-0 lead. Samford tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the first when King homered to center field.
 
Samford took control of the game with six runs in the bottom of the second inning. David hit a solo homer to left field for the first run of the inning. Garrett Staton later doubled to drive in Kaden Dreier for a two-run Samford lead. Ledbetter then reached on an infield single to drive in Staton to make the score 4-1. Klein then hit a three-run home run to right-center field with Ledbetter and Garrett Howe on base to make the score 7-1.
 
Each team scored a run in the third inning to make the score 8-2. Each team later plated a run in the seventh inning for a 9-3 Samford lead. Samford produced the final two runs of the game in the eighth inning when Howe and Staton both scored on a Wofford error to make the final score 11-3.
 
Samford and Wofford will conclude their series with a game Sunday afternoon. The contest is set for a 1 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field and admission is free.


 
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