KENNESAW, Ga. – The Samford University baseball team dropped the first two games of its series at Kennesaw State, falling by scores of 8-3 and 9-8 on Saturday at Mickey Dunn Stadium.
 
With the losses, Samford fell to 5-9 on the season. Kennesaw State improved its record to 7-6 with the wins.
 
"As I shared with the guys, sometimes baseball is tough, sometimes it's difficult, and on rare occasion it's downright cruel," Samford head coach Tony David said. "Today was cruel. We did so many good things, we fought like crazy to take late leads and it just wasn't enough.It was a day we squared up some balls that didn't seem to fly and they hit a couple that didn't seem super well hit that flew out to right." 
 
Game one started Friday, but was suspended due to inclement weather with Samford leading, 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning. The game resumed Saturday morning and Kennesaw State came back to take the 8-3 win. In the second game, Samford held an 8-6 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning, but KSU plated three runs in the eighth inning to come back for the 9-8 win.
 
For Samford in game one, Jeffrey Ince went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Trey Higgins homered in a 1-for-3 performance at the plate. Mason Blasche (0-3) pitched 6.0 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and striking out five batters to take the loss on the mound for the Bulldogs.
 
For KSU in the first game, Cooper Williams went 2-for-5 with two RBI. Grayson McCCollum went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Avery Wilson and James McGee drove in two runs each for the Owls. Daniel Powell (3-0) pitched 1.2 hitless innings in relief to earn the win on the mound, while Harry Cain pitched 2.0 hitless innings to pick up his first save of the season.
 
Samford took a 2-0 lead in game one as Ince scored on a wild pitch in the first inning and Higgins hit a solo home run in the third inning. KSU's McGee hit a two-run single to knot the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the third inning. Samford's Cade Carr hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Ince in the top of the sixth inning to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.
 
The game was suspended in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday night. When the game resumed on Saturday, Kennesaw State plated two runs in the seventh inning and four runs in the eighth inning to make the final score 8-3.
 
In game two for Samford, Jake Souders went 3-for-5 with a run scored. Jackson Harris went 2-for-4 with three RBI, while Higgins and Eddie Marshall had two hits each. Zak Spurrier (1-1) pitched 2.0 innings, giving up four runs on five hits to take the loss on the mound for Samford.
 
"Zak is our guy on back end," David said. "Some days they just get you. They got him today. Just have to tip our hat to them. They did a great job offensively. We need Marble to get us rolling tomorrow and keep scoring."
 
Kennesaw State was led in game two by Jackson Chirello, going 3-for-4 with a double, two home runs and four RBI. Ty Bayer (1-2) pitched 1.0 inning in relief to get the win on the mound for the Owls. Daniel Powell earned his second save of the season, tossing 1.0 inning of hitless relief.
 
After KSU scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning, Samford scored two runs in the second inning and two more in the fourth inning to take a 4-2 lead. Kennesaw State scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the score at 4-4.
 
Samford took the lead again, plating a run in the fifth inning and another run in the seventh inning to take a 6-4 lead. Kennesaw State plated two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the score once again at 6-6.
 
In the top of the eighth inning, Carr doubled down the left-field line to drive in Souders, and Higgins doubled to right-center field to drive in Carr to give Samford an 8-6 lead. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Wilson homered to right-center field to cut the lead to 8-7. Chirello then hit an RBI double to knot the score at 8-8. Wesley Alig then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Chirello for a 9-8 KSU lead.
 
The teams will conclude the series with a game on Sunday at 12 p.m. (CT). The game can be seen live on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available. For links to follow Samford baseball this season, click on the following link: 2026 SCHEDULE.
 
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