TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Samford Baseball Team stood toe-to-toe with the Alabama Crimson Tide on Tuesday evening, before a five-run eighth inning gave way to a 13-6 final score.
With the loss, the Bulldogs drop to 22-19 overall while Alabama improves to 30-12.
Garrett Howe knocked a team-high three hits on the evening, while John Anderson and Aaron Walton each drove in a pair. Jayden Davis and Hayden Perry both logged a two-hit performance, with Davis extending his current hitting streak to 24 games.
Lucas Steele and Garrett Staton both blasted a solo home run while Anderson launched a two-run shot in the contest.
Turner Thompson (1-2) took the loss in the contest, surrendering four earned in 0.2 innings of work. Starter Jacob Newman tossed a season-high four innings, striking out a pair and giving up only two runs on three hits.
Alex Gaeto, Nicholas Angelakos, and Trey Sanders each saw an inning of relief work while Mason McCormack made his season debut on the mound for Samford in the bottom of the eighth.
The Bulldogs got a runner in scoring position in both the second and third innings but failed to cash in. Howe got Steele to third base with a single to right in the second, but a strikeout for the inning's first out and an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play thwarted Samford's scoring efforts in the frame.
Perry led off the third with a double down the left-field line and was later brought to third on an Alabama wild pitch. The Crimson Tide again picked up a big strikeout for the second out and got Klein to line out to shortstop to end the inning.
The Crimson Tide broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth by plating two runs on a pair of hits. Drew Williamson put Alabama up 1-0 with a single through the right side while Dominic Tamez brought in the final run of the frame one batter later on a sacrifice fly to center.
After seeing Alabama add another run in the bottom of the fifth, the Bulldogs answered with three runs on back-to-back blasts from Anderson and Steele. Anderson's homer, his team-leading 12th of the season, cut the score to 3-2 while Steele's eighth of the campaign evened the score at three.
The Crimson Tide found an answer in the form of a three-run shot by Colby Shelton with two away in the bottom of the sixth, followed by an RBI double from Johnson to go up 7-3.
Staton trimmed the Bulldog's deficit to 7-4 on his eighth homer of the season in the top of the seventh, but Alabama responded with a run on a Tommy Seidl sac fly in the bottom of the inning to take an 8-4 lead.
The Bulldogs got a pair of runs back in the top of the eighth on a bases-loaded double with two outs by Walton that banged off the top of the left-field wall. Josh Rodriguez was thrown out at home on the play to end the inning trying to score from first.
Alabama put the game away in the bottom of the eighth by tallying five runs on five hits. Seidl accounted for the big blow in the frame with a three-run homer while Shelton knocked an RBI double and Johnson added an RBI sac fly.
Overall, the Bulldogs batted .333 (12-36) on the evening, including a mark of .417 (5-12) with two outs. The Crimson Tide's timely hitting ultimately served as the x-factor, with seven of Alabama's 13 runs coming with two away.
The Bulldogs will be back in action on Friday, April 28 where they will play game one of a three-game Southern Conference series at VMI at 5:00 p.m. (CST).
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