May 10, 2008

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team swept an Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader from Morehead State Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Samford won the first game, 5-3, and the Bulldogs took game two by a score of 6-3.

With the wins, Samford improves to 30-19 overall and 16-5 in OVC play. The wins also assure Samford of a first-round bye in the OVC Tournament, scheduled for May 21-25 in Paducah, Ky. Morehead State drops to 16-31 overall and 6-17 in the OVC.

"We played okay," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "In the first game, we left too many batters out there (on base), but we pitched pretty well."

In the first game, Samford was led at the plate by Michael Johnson, Bill Whitehead and Michael Marseco with two hits each. Marseco drove in one run for the Bulldogs. Marcus Rodriguez drove in two runs in a 1-for-3 performance. Wayne Miller and Tripp Swann also drove in a run each, both going 1-for-3 at the plate.

Joshua Vanfleteren pitched 3.2 innings in relief, giving up three runs on five hits to pick up the win on the mound. Kyle Nichols tossed the final inning to earn the save.

For MSU in game one, Eric Allen and Michael Bottoms each went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Bottoms also pitched 6.2 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits to take the loss.

Samford did most of its damage in the first innings, plating four runs, all with two outs, to take an early 4-0 lead. The game's first run was scored when Swann walked with the bases loaded to bring in Whitehead. Rodriguez then singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Bear Burnett and Michael Rutledge to make the score 3-0. Miller then singled to right field to drive in Swann for a four-run Samford lead.

After Morehead State plated a run in the third inning and two more in the sixth to cut the lead to 4-3, Samford added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 5-3. Marseco singled up the middle to drive in Johnson for the game's final run.

In game two, a seven-inning contest, Johnson was 2-for-3 with three RBI. Miller was 2-for-2 with two RBI, and Burnett was 2-for-3. Trent Hill pitched 6.0 innings, giving up just two earned runs on seven hits to pick up the win. Nichols, once again, picked up the save, pitching the final inning. With the two saves, Nichols now has seven saves on the season.

Morehead State was led by Travis Redmon, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Andrew Wertz was also 2-for-3 for the Eagles in the game two. Tyler Bess pitched 6.0 innings, giving up five earned runs on nine hits to take the loss.

After the Eagles took an early 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the second inning, Samford came back with three runs in the bottom of the second to take a 3-1 lead. Miller singled through the left side of the infield to drive in Rutledge to tie the score. Johnson later doubled to right-center field to drive in Miller and Burnett to give Samford the lead.

Samford added a run in the third inning and another in the fourth to push its lead to 5-1. Miller drove in the run in the third inning, and Whitehead drove in the fourth-inning run.

MSU plated two runs in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 5-3, but Samford came back with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the final score 6-3. Johnson singled to left field to drive in Miller for the final run of the day.

The same two teams will wrap up the series with a single game Sunday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/groups/wvsu/. Fans can also follow the game live on the internet via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Game 3