GREENVILLE, S.C. – The second-seeded Samford University baseball team fell to the top-seeded ETSU Bucs, 7-5, in the championship round of the Southern Conference Tournament Sunday afternoon at Fluor Field.
 
With the loss, Samford ends its season with a record of 30-27. ETSU is now 41-15 and the Bucs earn the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
"I told the guys, we've been fortunate to play in this thing a lot, we've won a lot of them and lost some," Samford head coach Tony David said. "Usually there's one aspect of the game that failed us and really, I don't think that happened. We jumped out on them early, we had a lot of really good at bats, a lot of really hard hits up the middle. They got that two-run home run in the fifth that really turned the momentum for them."
 
Samford had four players named to the All-SoCon Tournament team. Starting pitcher Mason Blasche, relief pitcher Evan Steckmesser, first baseman Jackson Harris and outfielder Jake Souders were Samford's representatives on the team.
 
Samford was led in the loss by Jeffrey Ince, going 3-for-5 with an RBI. Parker McDonald and Matthew Strand also drove in a run each for the Bulldogs. John Whitney (0-1) pitched 2.0 innings in relief, giving up four runs, just two earned, on five hits to take the loss on the mound for Samford.
 
For ETSU, Cody Miller went 3-for-5 at the plate. J.D. Yakubinis went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. Landon Crumbley (4-1) pitched 6.0 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits to earn the win for the Bucs. Brady Frederick picked up his fourth save of the season, tossing 3.0 innings without allowing a hit.
 
Samford jumped on top first with four runs in the top of the first inning. McDonald and Strand drove in a run each, while McDonald scored on an error and Strand scored on a wild pitch as Samford built a 4-0 lead.
 
After ETSU cut the lead to 4-1 with a run in the bottom of the first inning, Samford added a run in the top of the fourth inning to stretch the lead to 5-1. Ince singled up the middle to drive in Gus Gandy for Samford's fifth run of the game.
 
In the bottom of the fifth inning, ETSU's Yakubinis hit a two-run home run to left-center field to cut the Samford lead to 5-3.
 
In the bottom of the sixth inning, ETSU plated four runs for a 7-5 lead. Jamie Palmese tripled to drive in the first run of the inning. Yakubinis later singled to drive in the game-tying run and then scored the eventual game-winning run on an error. The game's final run came on an RBI single by Cooper Torres.
 
2025 ALL-SOCON TOURNAMENT TEAM
SP - Mason Blasche, SAM
SP - Colton Cosper, MER
SP - Alec Bouchard, WOF
RP - Evan Steckmesser, SAM
RP - Terry Busse, MER
RP - Brady Frederick, ETSU
C - JD Yakubinis, ETSU
1B - Jackson Harris, SAM
2B - Travis Elliott, CIT
SS - Cody Miller, ETSU
3B - Aryan Patel, CIT
OF - Brayden Corn, WCU
OF - Axel Melendez, ETSU
OF - Jake Souders, SAM
DH - Cooper Torres, ETSU
 
MOP - Cooper Torres, ETSU
Knight Commission Pinnacle Award - Tristan Curless


 
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