Ninth-Inning Rally Lifts Baseball Over Georgia State, 5-3

Feb. 15, 2005

ATLANTA, Ga. - Samford's Richard Bishop, in his only at-bat of the day, hit a three-run double to right field in the top of the ninth inning to lift the Bulldogs' baseball team to a 5-3 win over Georgia State Tuesday afternoon at DeKalb-South Field.

"It was a game that was full of a lot of great efforts," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said after his first collegiate victory. "Obviously, you have Richard coming up huge with the big hit. Joseph Edens came out on the mound in the last couple of innings and just did an awesome job."

Samford (1-0) began the ninth trailing, 3-2. After Georgia State retired Samford's lead-off hitter in the inning, Parker Gargis and Justin Worthington registered back-to-back singles to get the rally started. After Trey Moody fouled out to left field, Matt Alling walked to load the bases and set up Bishop's game-winning hit.

Georgia State (1-1) struck first with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Ryan Sterling singled through the right side to drive in Chris Dentler, who had earlier singled and moved to second on a passed ball, for the game's first run. Justin Newman then doubled to right-center field to score Sterling for a 2-0 Panther lead.

The Panthers increased their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Rusty Bennett hit a solo home run to right-center field.

Samford got on the board with a run in the top of fifth inning to cut the GSU lead to 3-1. Gargis hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Bear Burnett for the Bulldogs' first run.

The Bulldogs added another run in the top of the sixth inning. After Garrett Rice hit a double with one out, Rice scored on a Panther error to make the score 3-2.

For Samford at the plate, Bishop was 1-for-1 with three RBI. Worthington was 3-for-5 and Gargis was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Edens (1-0) got the win for Samford, pitching 5.0 innings in relief, giving up no runs on just one hit and striking out five batters.

Georgia State was led by Dentler and Sterling, both going 2-for-3 at the plate. Romas Hicks (0-1) took the loss on the mound for the Panthers. Hicks pitched 1.1 innings in relief, surrendering three runs on three hits.

Samford will return to action on Friday, February 18, when the Bulldogs play at Troy in the first game of a three-game series. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.