March 29, 2005

Box Score

AUBURN, Ala. - Samford's Garrett Rice went 2-for-4 with four RBI and his third home run in the last four games to lead the Samford baseball team to a 9-6 win at No. 21 Auburn at Plainsman Park Tuesday night.

"I am really pleased with the way our guys played tonight," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "We played flawlessly defensively, and that is why we won the game."

Samford (6-15) got on the board first with three runs in the top of the first inning. Justin Worthington, Matt Alling and Parker Gargis each walked to load the bases. Trey Moody then walked to score Worthington for a 1-0 Samford lead. Hunter Tubbs then singled to right field to drive in Alling and Gargis to make the score 3-0.

The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 5-0 with two runs in the top of the second inning. John Morgan, who had earlier singled, scored the inning's first run on an error. Garrett Rice later singled up the middle to drive in Alling for the five-run Samford lead.

Auburn (19-9) came back with two runs in the bottom of the second to cut the Samford lead to 5-2. Josh Bell led the inning off with a double, and Russell Dixon followed with a home run to right field for Auburn's first runs of the game.

Auburn plated two more runs in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 5-4. Dixon doubled to right field to drive in Bruce Edwards and Bell to cut Samford's lead to one.

Samford added a run in the top of the fourth inning to increase its lead to 6-4. Alling doubled to right-center field to drive in Worthington for the run.

The Bulldogs put three more runs on the board in the top of the sixth inning. Morgan and Worthington got things started with back-to-back hits. With two outs and Morgan and Worthington on base, Rice hit a home run to left-center field to increase Samford's lead to 9-4.

Auburn plated two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, making the final score 9-6. Dixon singled to right field to score Karl Amonite and Bell for Dixon's fifth and sixth RBI of the night.

Behind Rice for Samford, Morgan went 3-for-5 at the plate. Worthington went 2-for-3, and Tubbs drove in two runs in a 1-for-4 performance. Scott Kubina, in his first start at Samford, picked up the win, pitching 4.0 inning and giving up four runs on four hits. Michael Neimkin earned the save, pitching the final 4.1 innings, surrendering two runs on three hits.

For Auburn, Dixon went 3-for-5 with a home run and six RBI. Mike Felix took the loss for the Tigers. Felix pitched 1.1 innings, giving up five runs on two hits.

Samford will return to action on Wednesday when the Bulldogs play at UAB. The game is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. at Young Memorial Field. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the web at www.samfordsports.com or www.al.com/wvsu.