May 4, 2002

Final Stats

LAKE CHARLES, La. - David Montiel's infield single scored Tommy Eubanks in the bottom of the ninth as McNeese St. rallied to defeat Samford, 8-7 at Cowboy Diamond Saturday afternoon. The Cowboys (27-20) picked up their second win in the series after defeating the Bulldogs (23-25), 9-2 Friday night.

McNeese St. out-hit Samford, 15-10. Rick Weber picked up his first win of the season in relief duty. Weber gave up no hits and no runs in 1.2 innings. Ehren Wassermann (5-3) took the loss for Samford in relief of Scott Fowler. Wassermann gave up four runs, three earned, on seven hits.

The Bulldogs led 7-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth. McNeese's P.J. Johnson flied out to left field for the first out of the inning. Ran Prince then tripled to center field to put the tying run on base. With the infield drawn in, Eubanks hit a ground ball to second base. Michael Collins' throw home was high allowing Prince to score and tie the game. After Eubanks advanced to third on a fly out, Montiel singled to the hole on the right side to score the run and end the game.

Samford jumped out to a 6-0 lead after four innings. Cory Sumner gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead in the first when he scored on a Cowboy error. The Bulldogs added three runs in the second on three hits and one error. Kip Snowden doubled to left field and scored on Eli Iorg's single up the middle, giving the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead. Iorg then scored when Mario White reached base on McNeese's second error of the game. Michael Collins singled in White to put the Bulldogs on top, 4-0.

Grant Caldwell's two-RBI triple down the right field line scored Sumner and Collins in the fourth for the 6-0 advantage. But, the Cowboys answered back in the bottom of the fourth with four runs on five hits to cut their deficit to 6-4.

Heath Owen's solo home run in the seventh extended Samford's lead to 7-4. McNeese St. added two runs in the eighth and two runs in the ninth to complete the comeback.

Collins led Samford going 3-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI. Snowden finished 2-for-4. Sumner, Robert Evans, Caldwell, Owen and Iorg each had one hit. Montiel led the Cowboys going 3-for-4 with one RBI.

Samford and McNeese St. conclude their series at 1 p.m. Sunday.