March 23, 2002

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Florida Atlantic swept Saturday's doubleheader, 3-2 and 6-2 as the Blue Wave completed the series sweep of Samford at Joe Lee Griffin Field Saturday afternoon. FAU (22-6) stayed perfect in the conference at 6-0 while Samford (14-12) dropped to 5-7 in the A-Sun.

The Blue Wave extended its winning streak to 15 games after the series. FAU's Danny Core (3-2) and Travis NeSmith (4-0) combined to strike out five and allowed 12 hits in the two games as both picked up a win. Samford and FAU both finished with 15 hits in the two contests, but the Bulldogs committed six errors in the two games.

Samford jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first in game one on Grant Caldwell's two-RBI single scoring Robert Evans and Cory Sumner. FAU answered with two runs of its own in the third. Robert Orton hit a solo home run to left center cutting Samford's lead to 2-1. Bobby Spano tied the game when he scored on Mike Cox's ground out. The Blue Wave scored the go-ahead run in the top of the fourth as Rusty Brown homered to left field giving FAU a 3-2 lead.

The Bulldogs tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh. Sae Evans singled to lead off the inning and advanced on Kip Snowden's sacrifice bunt. With the one out, Eli Iorg reached on an error giving Samford runners at the corners. With Michael Collins at the plate, Iorg was caught stealing and Collins struck out to end the game.

Derek Tharpe (3-4) took the loss for Samford. Tharpe gave up three runs, two earned, on five hits and struck out six. Cory Sumner went 2-for-3 with a run scored. Sumner's run gave him 127 career runs scored moving him past Brooks Souders into first place on the all-time career list for runs scored. Orton finished the game 2-for-3 for FAU. Tim McNab picked up the save for the Blue Wave.

In game two, FAU used four unearned runs to slip by the Bulldogs. The Blue Wave scored first as Mike Cox's sacrifice fly brought Gabe Somarriba home for a 1-0 lead in the first. The Bulldogs took the lead in the bottom of the second when Joe Denson's sacrifice fly scored Iorg and Ehren Wassermann's single up the middle brought in Robert Evans. FAU scored four runs in the top of the third, all unearned. With two outs and the game tied at 2, Jeff Fiorentino hit a three-run shot to center field putting the Blue Wave ahead 5-2. FAU's final run came in the top of the fifth when L.J. Biernbaum hit a solo home run to left field for the 6-2 lead.

Alan Bryan (2-4) took the loss for Samford giving up six runs, two earned, on nine hits while striking out four. Denson finished 2-for-2 with one RBI while Iorg and Caldwell each went 2-for-3. Biernbaum led the Blue Wave going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored.

Samford hits the road next week for five games. The Bulldogs play at UAB Tuesday at 7 p.m. before traveling to Alabama A&M Wednesday at 2 p.m.