BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford Baseball Team will play its first Southern Conference home series this weekend when they welcome in The Citadel Bulldogs for a three-game set beginning with a Friday, March 31 contest at 6:00 p.m.
The Samford Bulldogs battled Mississippi State tough their last time out, but ultimately fell 9-4 in Starkville on March 28. Freshman outfielder Aaron Walton slugged his first career homer while Stephen Klein knocked a pair of hits in the setback.
Samford will look to keep the bats hot after recording 45 runs on 48 hits over the weekend and knocking 13 home runs in its series victory at ETSU last weekend to open SoCon play.
Klein (.769) went 10-13 last weekend with four homers and nine RBI on the way to earning SoCon Player of the Week honors. Lucas Steele (.600) posted a 9-16 weekend with eight RBI while John Anderson (.467) drove in nine runs with three homers and Garrett Staton (.400) logged three big flies with eight driven in.
Jayden Davis and Staton both bring with them a 10-game hitting streak into the weekend, with Staton also having reached base safely in his last 13 contests.
The Bulldogs hold a 23-10 series advantage over The Citadel in the series' history. Despite dropping two of three games at The Citadel last season, Samford has won 11 of the last 13 contests between the two.
The Bulldogs are scheduled to start Jacob Cravey on the mound in game one, Brody Westbrooks in game two, and Will Lynch in game three. Cravey currently leads the SoCon with 45 batters stuck out and 21 batters struck out looking while he (.213) and Lynch (.257) both rank in the top 10 in the conference in opponents' batting average.
The Citadel fell 13-2 against South Carolina on March 28 and dropped two of three contests against Mercer last weekend to open SoCon play. The Bulldogs salvaged the series by winning game three 6-2 on March 26.
Travis Lott comes in as The Citadel's leading hitter, sporting a .390 batting average that ranks fourth in the SoCon and a .547 on-base clip that ranks second in the league. Lott (30), Noah Mitchell (30), and Thomas Rollauer (32) have all knocked 30 or more base hits.
Cameron Reeves (2.79), Sam Swygert (3.16), and Ben Hutchins (3.60) all rank in the top 10 in the SoCon in ERA, with Reeves ranking second.
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