April 2, 2002

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -

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You hate to say that the second conference series of the season is a big one, but this season the Atlantic Sun is not a conference you want to get off to a slow start in. Samford will try to even it's conference mark against Troy State at 4 p.m. today at Bulldog Field.

The Bulldogs dropped to 0-2 in the Atlantic Sun falling to Stetson last week. The Atlantic Sun has four teams ranked in the top 10 in the south region and a fifth team receiving votes. Four teams have 30 or more wins and five teams have winning percentages over .700. Troy State is one of those teams. The Lady Trojans bring a 30-10 record into today's double header and were ranked among the top teams in the south region along with Jacksonville State, UCF, Florida Atlantic, and Stetson.

With only six teams making the tournament at the beginning of May, a win over Troy State today would go along way towards solidifing Samford as one of the top teams in the conference. Of course, it is only the second series of the season. There is still a long way to go for Samford and Troy State but these two games will certainly have an impact on how the teams look at the rest of their conference schedule.

Samford (13-17) struggled in Florida last week as the Bulldogs posted a 1-6 mark in the Sunshine State. Janet Middleton continued her hot hitting posting a .455 average (10-22) on the trip. Her season average is up to .420. The Samford record for highest batting average in a season is .384 by Sunny Russ in 1996. The rest of the team had a combined .178 batting average on the trip. Samford's next leading hitter was Kelly Smith who batted .273 (6-22) while in Florida. Mindy Shunnarah hit .227 (5-22) with a pair of RBI.

The Bulldogs have only played 10 of its first 30 games in the friendly confines of Bulldog Field. Samford is 8-2 at home so far this year. Angela Bednark and Janet Middleton are each batting .500 at Bulldog Field this season. Bednark has hit four of her eight HR's at home while Middleton has three Homers at home and only one on the road. Samford as a team is batting .306 in home games and just .215 away from Birmingham. Samford is 5-15 away from Bulldog Field this season. Samford pitchers have a 1.35 ERA in home games. Amber Fuller is 5-0 at home with a 0.22 ERA while Erin Landsburg is 3-2 with a 2.57 ERA in home games.

The Lady Trojans have dropped two of their last three after a nine-game winning streak ended with a 9-1 loss to North Carolina. During their winning streak, Troy recorded a victory over 20th ranked Florida State. In their last series against Elon, The Trojans won the first game 10-0 behind Kim Unkenholz but dropped the nightcap 5-3.

Offensively the Trojans have a .292 team batting average. Bonnie Belin leads the club with a .375 average she has five doubles, a triple, and 13 RBI. Tamra Howren is batting .351 with team-highs in doubles with 11, home run with seven, and RBI with 37.

In the circle, Kim Unkenholz is 6-2 with a 0.95 ERA. Ashley Floyd is 8-2 with a 0.96 ERA. Cassie Wilkenson has the most innings with 100.1 but she is 12-3 with a 1.26 ERA and opponents are hitting .213 against her. As a staff, Troy State has a 1.19 ERA and opponents are batting just .194 off Trojan pitching.

Over the years Samford has not had much success against Troy State. The Bulldogs are 10-26 all time including three losses last season. The Trojans took both games of the double-header in Troy and then eliminated the Bulldogs in the Atlantic Sun Conference semifinals 4-2. The last time the two teams met in Birmingham they split a double header with Troy taking the first game 6-3 and Samford taking the nightcap 2-0.