CHARLESTON, S.C. – Samford pitcher Michael Ross tossed a one-hit shutout in leading the Bulldog baseball team to a 2-0 win in game one of its weekend Southern Conference series at The Citadel Friday at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
 
With the win, Samford improved its record to 19-10 overall and 4-0 in Southern Conference play. The Citadel fell to 15-13 overall and 0-7 in league games.
 
Ross (7-0) pitched Samford's first complete game of the season, tossing 9.0 innings, allowing just one hit to earn the win. He tied a season high with nine strikeouts in the win, while allowing just two walks.
 
"The story of the day, obviously, was Michael Ross," Samford head coach Tony David said. "We have had a lot of great performances over the years, but none better than he was today. He was so efficient with his pitches and there was not a lot of traffic on the bases. When he needed to dial back and make the big pitches, he did."
 
At the plate for Samford, Garrett Howe and John Anderson had one hit and one RBI each. Andrew Bennett and John Whitney also recorded one hit each for Samford.
 
"This was just a really good college baseball game," David said. "Whitney, Howe and John strung together a few big hits. Overall, we struck out more than we should, but we also barreled some balls on a tough wind day. I felt like we had a number of balls that would have gone out on a normal day."
 
For The Citadel, Travis Lott singled in the team's first at-bat of the game for the home Bulldogs' lone hit. Sam Swygert (3-2) pitched 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits to take the loss for The Citadel.
 
"We have to be able to win in different ways on different days," David said. "Sometimes blunt force trauma just isn't there. Their guys threw really well too. It was great to get the first one."
 
The teams were scoreless through the first four innings of the contest. In the top of the fifth inning, Whitney doubled to lead the inning off. Whitney moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Garrett Staton. Howe then singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Whitney for a 1-0 Samford lead. After Howe stole second base, Anderson singled to left field to drive in Howe to make the score 2-0.
 
The teams will continue the series with a game Saturday at 12 p.m. (CT) on ESPN+. Fans can also follow the game online via live stats. For links to follow all of Samford's games this season, click on the following link: BASEBALL SCHEDULE.
 
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