BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford Baseball Team will take to the road for a battle for the top spot in the Southern Conference standings this weekend at Wofford, beginning with a 4:00 p.m. (CST) contest on Friday evening.
The Bulldogs (21-16) sit atop the SoCon with a record of 7-2 while Wofford (27-9) finds themselves one game back at 6-3.
Samford fell 13-3 at Auburn their last time out on April 18. Garrett Howe led the way offensively with a 4-4 effort while Garrett Staton and Lucas Steele added an RBI.
The Bulldogs picked up their third series sweep of the season this past weekend, taking all three games against Toledo at Joe Lee Griffin Field
The Bulldogs are scheduled to start Jacob Cravey in game one, Brody Westbrooks in game two, and Will Lynch in game three. Westbrooks (3.31) and Lynch (3.45) both rank in the top 10 in the league in ERA in SoCon games while Cravey leads the conference with 70 strikeouts and 33 strikeouts looking.
Senior first baseman Stephen Klein boasts a .594 batting average through nine conference games. Klein leads the league with a 1.313 slugging percentage, .698 on-base percentage, and six homers against SoCon opponents.
Relievers Ben Petschke and Jake Holifield both sport an earned run average of 0.00 against SoCon opponents. Petschke is holding conference hitters to a .138 average and Holfield .133.
Samford comes into the weekend batting .333 in SoCon play while leading the league with 23 home runs in nine conference contests. The Bulldogs additionally rank second in the league with a .636 slugging percentage, a .991 fielding percentage, and a 4.39 team ERA in SoCon games.
Samford holds a 23-19 series advantage over Wofford in their brief series history that began in 2009. The Bulldogs took two of three games at home against the Terriers last season in their most recent series.
Wofford bested Winthrop 9-2 on April 18 and is coming off a series victory at Western Carolina last weekend. The Terriers scored 39 runs over their weekend series in Cullowhee, including 17 in the series finale.
Seven qualified hitters for Wofford sport a batting average of .300 or better including Ryan Galanie, whose .451 batting average leads the SoCon and ranks fifth nationally. Galanie also leads the league in home runs (11) and RBI (48).
Lucas Mahlstedt has made a team-high 14 appearances with four saves and a 1.94 ERA that leads the SoCon. Starters Coulson Buchanan (63) and Matthew Marchal (51) both have struck out 50-plus batters on the season.
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