Baseball Travels to Mississippi State Tuesday for Midweek Tilt

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford Baseball Team will take to the road on Tuesday, March 28 to take on the Bulldogs of Mississippi State.

First pitch from Starkville, Miss. is set for 6:00 p.m. (CST), with the contest streaming live on SEC Network+.

The Samford Bulldogs are coming off a series victory at ETSU to open Southern Conference action, claiming victories in games one and two while falling in the series finale.

The Bulldog bats recorded 45 runs on 48 hits over the weekend and knocked 13 home runs in one of the program's most productive weekends in recent memory.

Brody Westbrooks turned in a career-best six shutout innings while striking out five en route to a game-two victory on Saturday.

Stephen Klein batted .625 (10-16) over four games last week, including a clip of .769 (10-13) in the Bulldogs' three-game set at ETSU to open SoCon play. The senior first baseman slugged four homers over the weekend, with a pair of blasts in Samford's game-three setback on Sunday.

John Anderson drove in 11 runs while batting .471 (8-17) over last week's action, including six on a pair of three-run homers in the Bulldogs' 14-6 game-two win over ETSU

Klein (4), Garrett Staton (4), and Anderson (3) combined to knock 11 of Samford's 13 big flies last week, with Anderson and Klein each recording a multi-homer game at ETSU. Staton has homered in his last four games, reached base safely in his last 11 games, and hit safely in his last nine contests.

Lucas Steele (1.163), Klein (1.140), and Anderson (1.039) all enter the week with an OPS of over 1.000. Klein and Steele both lead the Bulldogs with 23 runs batted in.

Junior reliever Ben Petschke leads the SoCon with 12 relief appearances this season while ranking second in the conference with four saves. Petschke is holding opposing hitters to a .236 batting average.

On the mound, the Bulldogs saw the return of Blake Bortak, who posted a 3-2 record with a 4.67 ERA over 13 appearances last season. Bortak debuted with a scoreless inning of work against North Alabama on March 21 and took the loss in an inning of relief at ETSU on March 26.

Mississippi State holds a 38-11 advantage in the series' history. Samford won the most recent meeting on May 10, taking advantage of a pair of grand slams by Andrew Bennett and Maurice Hampton Jr. to secure an 8-6 victory at the Hoover Met.

Mississippi State will look to bounce back after dropping all three weekend contests at No. 4 Vanderbilt in its second weekend of SEC play.

Former Samford Bulldog ColtonzLedbetterzleads Mississippi State with 30 RBI while Bryce Chance's .354 average paces the squad. Hunter Hines has slugged a team-high 10 homers while Amani Larry has scored a team-high 30 runs.

Nate Dohm, Colby Holcombe, and Tyler Davis have all made a team-high nine appearances, with Dohm logging a pair of saves and Holcombe holding opposing hitters to a .184 batting average.

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Players Mentioned

#23 Andrew Bennett: INF/OF; 6' 4"; Junior; R/R

#5 Blake Bortak: LHP/OF; 5' 11"; Junior; R/L

#9 Stephen Klein: INF; 5' 9"; Senior; L/L

#27 Garrett Staton: INF; 6' 0"; Redshirt Sophomore; R/R

#22 Brody Westbrooks: RHP; 6' 3"; Junior; R/R

#11 John Anderson: INF; 5' 10"; Junior; R/R

#18 Lucas Steele: C/OF; 5' 11"; Freshman; S/R

#42 Ben Petschke: RHP; 6' 0"; Junior; R/R

Players Mentioned

#23 Andrew Bennett
: 6' 4"; Junior; R/R
: INF/OF

#5 Blake Bortak
: 5' 11"; Junior; R/L
: LHP/OF

#9 Stephen Klein
: 5' 9"; Senior; L/L
: INF

#27 Garrett Staton
: 6' 0"; Redshirt Sophomore; R/R
: INF

#22 Brody Westbrooks
: 6' 3"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

#11 John Anderson
: 5' 10"; Junior; R/R
: INF

#18 Lucas Steele
: 5' 11"; Freshman; S/R
: C/OF

#42 Ben Petschke
: 6' 0"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

Samford University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Players Mentioned