Feb. 17, 2006

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team built a five-run lead and held on late for a 9-8 win over the Troy Trojans Friday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

"It was good to get the first win," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "We did some good things tonight. I told our kids, I hope we are to the point where we expect, not only to win, but to play well."

For Samford (1-1), Drew Reagan went 1-for-1 at the plate with a two-run home run, his first homer of the season. Trey Moody and Louis Rojas drove in two runs apiece for the Bulldogs.

Troy (3-2) was led by Clint Robinson, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Tom King went 2-for-5 with two RBI for the Trojans.

Troy jumped out to a 3-0 lead with three runs in the second inning. Robinson's home run, a two-run homer with Kevin Weidlich on base, plated the game's first two runs. The third run of the inning was scored when Josh Blackwell singled to drive in Jared Keel to give the Trojans a 3-0 lead.

Troy made the score 4-0 with a run in the top of the fifth inning. King doubled down the right-field line to drive in Edgar Ramirez for the run.

Samford fought back to take the lead with five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Moody doubled down the left-field line with the bases loaded to drive in Michael Marseco and Chet McDonough to make the score 4-2. Garrett Rice then reached base on a fielder's choice and advanced to third on a Troy error, with Reagan, Moody and John Morgan scoring on the play to give Samford a 5-4 lead.

The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 9-4 with four runs in the seventh inning. Rojas doubled to left-center field to drive in Morgan and Marseco for a 7-4 lead. The inning's final two runs were scored when Reagan homered to left field with Rojas on base.

Troy came back with four runs in the eighth inning to cut the Samford lead to 9-8. Keel and Robinson scored the first two runs of the inning on a Samford error. King then singled to drive in Blake Green to make the score 9-7. Troy plated its final run when Nick Smith hit sacrifice fly to left field to score Ian Craze.

Eric Lassiter pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his first save of the season. Phillip Whitten (1-0) earned the win on the mound for Samford, pitching 2.2 innings in relief, and giving up one earned run on three hits. Pete Van Horn (0-1) took the loss for Troy, tossing 1.1 innings, surrendering four runs, all unearned, on two hits.

Samford and Troy will play game two of the series Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.