April 14, 2002

Box Score

TROY, Ala. - Drew Miller went 5-for-7 with two RBI and Justin Eason threw his second consecutive four-hit, complete game as Troy State swept a doubleheader from Samford, 7-6 and 10-1, at Riddle-Pace Field Saturday afternoon.

Samford dropped to 19-16 and 6-11 in the conference while Troy State improved to 18-20 overall and 8-9 in Atlantic Sun Conference play.

Eason improved to 4-5 on the season after lasting seven innings and striking out six while allowing just one run on four hits in the second game of the day. Samford tried to put the game away in the sixth and eighth innings.

Trailing 3-2 in the top of the sixth, Sae Evans single and advanced to second on Kip Snowden's bunt single. After Joe Denson's sacrifice bunt moved the runners over, Evans scored on Eli Iorg's pop up in foul territory and Snowden scored on Cory Sumner's RBI single, giving Samford a 4-3 lead. The Trojans tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Brian Lipman delivered with a two-strike single that scored Wade Miller from second and sent the game into an extra frame.

Samford scored a pair of runs with two outs in the eighth to give them a 6-4 lead. After Denson was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a passed ball. Iorg doubled down the right field line to make it 5-4. After Sumner walked, Robert Evans doubled to right center to give Samford the 6-4 lead.

The Trojans came back in the bottom half of the eighth with three runs on two hits and benefited from one Bulldog error. After tying the game at 6-6 on Colby Smith's two-run double, Smith stole third and eased home on Lance Newman's sacrifice fly to deep left field to give Troy State the victory.

Freshman lefthander Phillip Powell (1-0) earned his first career win as he faced two batters and threw just six pitches while Casey Graham suffered his first career loss after giving up the winning run.

In game two, Troy State scored four runs on four hits off Alan Bryan in the first inning. Chad Howard, who went 2-for-3, highlighted the inning with a two-run home run to left field. The Trojans added five more in the fourth and one in the fifth as they cruised to the 10-1 victory.

The Bulldogs lone run came in second inning. Ehren Wassermann doubled to left field and scored on Sae Evans single up the middle. Eason held Samford to a season-low four hits in the game. Sumner had three hits on the day while Robert Evans and Major Allred each had two hits, but Evans failed to record a hit in the second game, snapping his career-best 26-game hitting streak.

Wade Miller finished the day 4-for-8 with three RBIs and four runs scored.