Baseball Advances to SoCon Semifinals with 2-1 Victory Over ETSU

Thursday, May 25

Greenville, SC

3:00 PM

Samford University

33-22

ETSU

26-28

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
ETSU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	10	0
Samford	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	X	2	4	1

Photo by: Chase Cochran | Samford Athletics

Baseball Advances to SoCon Semifinals with 2-1 Victory Over ETSU

5.25.23 | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Samford Baseball team took advantage of a pair of solo home runs from Andrew Bennett and Lucas Steele and 7.1 innings of one-run baseball from Jacob Cravey to best the Buccaneers of ETSU 2-1 in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases on Thursday afternoon.

With the win, the Bulldogs improve to 33-22 on the season and advance to the tournament semifinals on Friday. ETSU falls to 26-28.

Bennett's solo home run in the eighth inning, his ninth of the season, proved to be the difference maker. The junior outfielder turned on a 1-1 offering and sent it 438 feet to the roof of the neighboring apartment complex behind Flour Field to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead

Steele's home run in the bottom of the seventh gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead and accounted for the freshman outfielder's 16th blast of the season.

Cravey fanned six batters over 7.1 innings of work while giving up just one run on seven hits. Ben Petschke (5-2) tossed the final 1.2 innings to earn the win in relief, striking out one and giving up no runs.

Cravey's lone run came in the eighth inning on an RBI single from Cameron Sisneros that tied the contest at 1-1. The junior right-hander kept the Bucs off the scoreboard in one of the game's biggest moments in the top of the seventh by working a backward K with two outs and runners on second and third.

After conceding the game's tying run in the eighth, Petschke settled down to get the next two outs to escape the inning. Jayden Davis threw out the potential go-ahead run at home one batter later while backing up an overthrow to second base, which was followed by an F8 to end the frame.

Following a leadoff single in the top of the ninth, a batter's interference call on a stolen base attempt accounted for the first out, followed by a batted ball from Noah Webb that hit off Skyler Cannady for the inning's second out. Petschke fanned Ryan McCarthy for the game's final out.

The Bulldogs will take on the winner of the No. 2 seed Mercer vs. No. 3 seed Wofford game on Friday, May 26 at 4:00 p.m. in a semifinal matchup. First pitch from Fluor Field is set for 3:00 p.m. CST.

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