March 29, 2008

Box Score

MURRAY, Ky. - The Samford baseball team swept an Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader at Murray State Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs won game one, 2-0, and they took game two by a score of 10-6.

With the sweep, Samford improves to 14-8 overall and 5-0 in OVC play, while Murray State drops to 8-11 overall and 1-4 in league play.

In the first game of the doubleheader, Jonathan Stephens pitched his second complete game of the season to earn the win on the mound. Stephens tossed 9.0 innings, giving up no runs on six hits and striking out four batters while walking just one. Alex Godshall drove in both of Samford's runs in a 1-for-3 performance at the plate.

For Murray State in game one, Wes Cunningham was 2-for-3 at the plate. Chris Craycraft pitched the complete game, giving up two runs on five hits and striking out nine batters to take the loss.

Samford plated both of its runs in the top of the second inning. Bear Burnett walked to lead the inning off, and John Morgan was then hit by a pitch. Godshall later drove in both Burnett and Morgan with a single to right field for a 2-0 Samford lead.

In game two, Samford was led by Bill Whitehead, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Wayne Miller, Michael Marseco, Burnett, Morgan and Michael Johnson had two hits each. Andrew Jones pitched 4.0 innings, giving up three runs on five hits to earn the win on the mound. Kyle Nichols pitched the final 3.0 innings to pick up his second save of the season.

In game two for Murray State, Elliot Frey, Matt Hon and Brooks Thornton had two hits each at the plate. Daniel Calhoun pitched 5.0 innings, giving up nine runs on 13 hits to take the loss.

Samford plated two runs in the top of the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead. Burnett singled to drive in Godshall and Miller for the first two runs of the game.

The Bulldogs added a run in the top of the third inning to make the score 3-0. Godshall singled to drive in Morgan for a three-run Samford lead.

Samford plated two more runs in the top of the third to push its lead to 5-0. Matthew Bennett doubled to drive in Burnett for the first run of the inning. Whitehead later singled to center field to drive in Bennett for a five-run Samford lead. Samford pushed its lead to 6-0 in the fourth inning when Burnett singled to drive in Miller.

Murray State got on the board for the first time in the bottom of the fourth inning with a run to cut the Samford lead to 6-1. Hon, who had doubled earlier, scored from third base on a wild pitch.

Samford added three runs in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 9-1. Marseco drove in two runs and Michael Rutledge drove in one run to give Samford the eight-run lead.

Murray State plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth, and Samford came back with a run in the top of the sixth to make the score 10-4. The Thoroughbreds then added two final runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the final score 10-6.

The teams will wrap up the series with a single game Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Fans can follow the game live on the internet via GameTracker at the link below.

GameTracker For Game 3