BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team dropped a 16-8 decision in the second game of a three-game series to Mercer Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
With the loss, Samford fell to 23-21 overall and 8-6 in Southern Conference play. Mercer improved to 35-12 overall and 9-5 in SoCon action.
"We got beat today," Samford head coach Tony David said. "Sometimes you just have to tip your cap. Two good things happened today we had more hits than they did and we turned a triple play. When we gave them a little help they took advantage of it. We are pretty incredible defensively, but one costly error turned things because they blasted a long one. Our guys fought and didn't roll over. We have to bounce back tomorrow and salvage a game on Sunday."
Samford was led in the game by
Luke Boykin, going 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI.
Parker McDonald went 3-for-5 with a home run and one RBI, while
Jake Souders went 2-for-4 with a home run and an RBI.
Mason Blasche (3-6) took the loss on the mound for Samford, pitching 4.0 innings, giving up 10 runs, just five earned, on eight hits.
Mercer was led by Eli Stephens and Braydon Kersey, who each delivered a grand slam for the Bears. Miguel Hugas (8-2) pitched 6.1 innings, allowing six runs on 11 hits to earn the win on the mound for Mercer.
In the first inning, the teams traded solo home runs as Chris Katz hit one for Mercer and Souders answered in the bottom of the inning for Samford to tie the score at 1-1. After Mercer scored four runs in the top of the third inning to take a 5-1 lead, Samford's Boykin hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 5-3.
Mercer plated five unearned runs in the fourth inning, aided by a Samford error, and Samford plated a run in the bottom of the inning when McDonald homered to left-center field to make the score 10-4. Mercer then plated a run in the fifth inning and five more in the sixth to push the lead to 16-4. The Bears got the first two batters on base in the seventh inning, but a triple play turned by the Samford defense ended the threat.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Samford plated three runs to cut the lead to 16-7.
Trey Higgins and
Eddie Marshall drove in a run each and
Cade Carr scored on a Mercer error. Samford added one final run in the eighth inning when Higgins singled to drive in
Pierce Dutton to make the final score 16-8.
The teams will conclude the series with a game on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be seen live on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available. For links to follow all of Samford's games this season, click on the following link:
2026 SCHEDULE.
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