HOOVER, Ala. – In a tight battle the whole way, the Samford baseball team dropped a 3-0 game to 10
th-ranked Auburn Tuesday evening at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
With the loss, Samford fell to 23-21 on the season. Auburn improved to 31-14 with the win.
Samford was led in the loss by
Jake Souders, going 1-for-2 with a double and a walk.
Matthew Strand singled in his lone at bat of the game. The Bulldog defense was solid all night, turning a pair of double plays to prevent more Auburn runs.
Heath Clevenger (1-1) pitched 1.2 innings, giving up two runs on four hits to take the loss on the mound for Samford.
John Whitney,
John Malone,
Cullen Horowicz,
Drew Druckenmiller and
Evan Steckmesser combined to pitch the final 7.1 innings, allowing a combined one unearned run.
For Auburn, Cade Belyeu went 1-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Chris Rembert, Cooper McMurray and Bub Terrell had two hits each for the Tigers. Christin Chatterton (3-1) pitched 6.0 innings, allowing no runs on one hit to earn the win on the mound for Auburn. Ryan Hetzler picked up his sixth save of the season, tossing the final hitless inning.
Auburn's Rembert led the game off with a single through the left side of the infield. Belyeu then homered to center field to put the Tigers on top, 2-0.
The score remained 2-0 until the top of the seventh inning. Rembert and Belyeu were both hit by pitches to open the inning. Ike Irish then reached base on a fielder's choice and Rembert scored on a Samford error to give Auburn a 3-0 advantage.
In both the sixth and ninth innings, Auburn threatened to score, but the Samford defense turned double plays to get out of both innings.
Next up, Samford will host Miami of Ohio in a three-game non-conference series this weekend. The teams are scheduled to play Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 6 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
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