April 26, 2002

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- - Junior left-hander Robert Evans struck out a career-high 10 batters through nine innings and junior right fielder Mario White went a career-high 3-for-4 at the plate as Samford(22-22, 9-13 A-Sun) squeezed by Georgia St., 4-3 in game one of a key Atlantic Sun Conference Series at Joe Lee Griffin Field Friday night.

Evans (3-0) pitched his first complete game of the season allowing three runs on 11 hits. Georgia State's Ronnie Brown (4-6) took the loss after giving up four runs, two earned, on nine hits while striking out nine.

Trailing 3-2, Samford took the lead in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Sae Evans hit a fly ball to right field but the GSU right fielder dropped it allowing Grant Caldwell and Ehren Wassermann to score, putting the Bulldogs ahead 4-3.

With two outs in the ninth, Robert Evans struck out pinch hitter Rusty Bennett to end the game.

The Panthers (19-25, 9-10 A-Sun) opened up the scoring in the first inning. Dustin Phillips doubled down the left field line and scored on Josh Vandiver's double to center field, putting GSU ahead 1-0. Samford answered back in the bottom of the first when senior left fielder Cory Sumner drove the second pitch he saw over the right center field wall for his second home run of the season tying the game at 1.

Georgia St. added two runs in the third to take the 3-1 lead. Kyle Breitbach's single to left field scored both Clint Mize and Phillips. The Bulldogs cut their deficit to 3-2 in the fifth. After Grant Caldwell led off with a single, Heath Owen singled to right field giving the Bulldogs runners on the corner. With one out, Georgia State's catcher was called for interference allowing the base runners to advance two bases. Caldwell scored on the play to bring Samford within one run.

Caldwell went 2-for-3 with two runs scored while Sumner, Denson, Wassermann and Owen each had one hit. Mize finished 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Panthers. Phillips, Vandiver and Wise each had two hits for Georgia St.

Samford and Georgia St. conclude their series Saturday with a doubleheader at 1 p.m.