CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Samford baseball team plated two runs in the ninth inning and one in the 10
th inning to take a 5-4 come-from-behind win in game three of the team's Southern Conference series at The Citadel Saturday evening at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park.
Samford entered the ninth inning trailing, 4-2.
Cade Carr singled to left field to open the inning. With one out in the inning,
Luke Boykin hit his second home run of the game to tie the score at 4-4.
After Samford closer
Zak Spurrier held The Citadel scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, the teams headed to extra innings. In the top of the 10
th inning,
Parker McDonald was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by
Pierce Dutton and to third base when
Jeffrey Ince flew out to right field. Carr then singled up the middle to drive in McDonald to give Samford the 5-4 lead.
Spurrier (2-3) held The Citadel scoreless again in the bottom of the 10
th inning to close out the win. Spurrier got the win after pitching 3.0 innings in relief, giving up no runs on two hits and striking out six batters.
For Samford at the plate, Boykin went 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI. Carr went 2-for-5 with an RBI, while McDonald drove in a run, going 1-for-3 at the plate.
"That's a huge one for our guys," Samford head coach Tony David said. "Not all wins are created equal and that's a bigger win than just the one win there. We just had great at bat after great at bat. I told them after the game, it was really just an incredible job of persevering and staying in there with it."
With the win, Samford improved its season record to 26-23 overall and 10-8 in Southern Conference play. The Citadel fell to 27-23 overall and 8-10 in league play.
For The Citadel, Michael Gibson went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Zane Davis (2-2) took the loss on the mound for The Citadel.
The Citadel plated a run in the second inning and another in the third to take a 2-0 lead. In the top of the fifth inning, Boykin hit his first home run of the game to cut the lead to 2-1. The Citadel came back with a run in the fifth inning and another in the sixth to build a 4-1 lead. In the eighth inning, McDonald singled to drive in a run and cut the lead to 4-2 to set the stage for the ninth-inning comeback.
Samford will wrap up the regular season by hosting Wofford in a three-game Southern Conference series. The teams are scheduled to play Thursday at 4 p.m., Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
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