May 20, 2010

Box Score

ELON, N.C. - The Samford baseball team scored three runs in the ninth inning and one in the 10th to earn an 11-10 Southern Conference win in the second game of a three-game league series at Elon Thursday afternoon at Latham Park.

With the win, Samford improves to 30-22 overall and 17-11 in SoCon play. This marks the fourth time in the last five years that Samford has won at least 30 games in a season. Elon drops to 35-20 overall and 18-11 in league play.

"What a good job offensively by our guys," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "The best part is we did it in the ninth and 10th against their best guys. So many guys came up big for us today. It was just a good job of competing at the plate by our guys."

For Samford at the plate, Mason Meredeth went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Meredeth's homer came with two outs in the top of the ninth inning to tie the score and eventually force extra innings.

Samford's Stephen Ballard went 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI. Trey Hayes went 3-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI. Gary Cramer went 2-for-5 with a double and the eventual game-winning RBI in the top of the 10th inning.

As a team, Samford now has 68 home runs this season, just one short of the school's record of 69 set in 1997. The Bulldogs also have 582 hits, just six away from the record of 588 set in 2004.

Lex Rutledge pitched the final 2.0 innings for Samford, giving up no runs on three hits and striking out four batters to earn the win and improve his record to 5-0 on the season. Kyle Putkonen, Joshua VanFleteren, Andrew Jones and Michael Gunter also saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs.

Elon was led at the plate by Scott Riddle, going 4-for-6. Just Hilt went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Neal Pritchard went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Mike Melillo went 2-for-5 with a home run and an RBI. Thomas Girdwood pitched 1.0 inning in relief, giving up four runs on five hits to take the loss and drop to 3-1 on the season.

Samford trailed, 10-7 heading to the ninth inning. With two outs, Wayne Miller singled to left-center field to start the rally. After Miller advanced to second base on catcher's indifference, Ballard singled up the middle to drive in Miller to make the score 10-8. Meredeth then homered to left field to tie the score at 10-10. The home run was Meredeth's 12th of the season.

Rutledge then held the Phoenix scoreless in the bottom of the ninth inning to force a 10th inning. In the 10th inning, Hayes singled to left field to start the inning. Cramer then doubled down the right-field line to drive in Hayes for the game-winning run.

Elon jumped on top first with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Ryan Adams singled to right field to drive in Melillo for the first run of the game. Adams later attempted to steal second base and Pritchard stole home when Samford catcher Brad Moss threw to second base for a 2-0 Elon lead.

Samford came back with a run in the top of the second inning. Hayes hit a solo home run to left field to cut the Elon lead to 2-1.

The Bulldogs plated three runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 4-2 lead. After Ballard doubled to lead off the inning, Meredeth singled up the middle to drive in Ballard to tie the score. Hayes later hit his second homer of the game, this time with Bo Smith on base, for a two-run Samford lead.

Elon answered with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take the lead back at 5-4. Harry Austin, Ben Scott and Hilt drove in a run each in the inning to give the Phoenix a one-run lead.

Samford tied the score with one run in the top of the sixth inning. Ballard led the inning off with a double and later scored when Smith grounded out to first base to make the score 5-5.

The Phoenix plated two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 7-5 lead. Pritchard singled to drive in Austin and Niko Fraser for a two-run Elon lead.

Samford added a run in the top of the seventh inning to cut the Elon lead to 7-6. Michael Johnson scored when Moss hit a sacrifice fly to center field for Samford's sixth run of the game.

Elon pushed its lead to 8-6 with one run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Hilt hit a solo home run to left-center field to give the Phoenix a two-run lead.

Samford came back with one run in the top of the eighth inning to cut the Elon lead to 8-7. Smith singled to drive in Ballard to bring Samford to within one run. Hayes then walked to load the bases with no outs, but the Bulldogs were unable to get another run home and the score remained 8-7.

Elon put two more runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth inning to push its lead to 10-7. Melillo and Pritchard hit back-to-back home runs to give the Phoenix a three-run lead.

Samford and Elon will conclude their three-game SoCon series with a game Friday at 12 p.m. (CT). The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.