April 29, 2008

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team dropped a 10-6 decision to Alabama Tuesday night in front of 1,641 fans, the largest crowd in the history of Joe Lee Griffin Field.

The Bulldogs drop to 27-16 with the loss. Alabama improves to 26-21 on the season.

"This was a tough one," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "I thought we played right there with them, but we just have to be a little better. They scored in four innings, and three of the four started with a lead-off walk or hit batter, and the other started with an error. We created opportunities for them, and being a good team, they took full advantage of them."

For Samford at the plate, Michael Marseco went 3-for-4 with two RBI. Marseco extended his career-long hitting streak to 28 games. Michael Rutledge hit a three-run home run in a 1-for-5 performance. Michael Johnson, Bill Whitehead and John Morgan had two hits each for the Bulldogs.

Joshua Vanfleteren pitched 3.2 innings in relief, giving up two runs on six hits to take the loss. Vanfleteren dropped his season record to 2-3.

Alabama was led at the plate by Kent Matthes, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Kyle Moore was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, and Brandon May was 2-for-6 with a home run and two RBI.

Jimmy Nelson pitched 3.0 innings in relief, giving up no runs on five hits to earn the win. Austin Graham pitched the final 1.1 innings to pick up the save.

Alabama scored a run in the top of the second inning to grab an early 1-0 lead. Matt Bentley was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and came around to score when Moore singled to left field.

Samford came back with five runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 5-1 lead. The majority of the damage in the inning came on Rutledge's three-run homer with Marseco and Johnson on base.

Alabama answered with four runs in the top of the third inning to tie the score at 5-5. After Alex Avila walked to lead the inning off, May homered to center field to make the score 5-3. Tyler Odle and Jake Smith drove in a run each later in the inning to tie the score.

Samford took the lead again with a run in the fourth inning. Marseco singled through the right-side of the infield to drive in Johnson, who had reached base on a single earlier in the inning, to give Samford a 6-5 lead.

Alabama plated two runs in the fifth inning to take the lead for good at 7-6. Matthes walked to lead off the inning and later came around to score when Moore homered to left-center field to give the Crimson Tide the lead.

Alabama added three runs in the eighth inning to make the final score 10-6. Ryan Rhoden reached base on a Samford error to lead the inning off. Alex Kubal then pinch ran for Rhoden. Kubal stole second and came around to score when Avila singled through the right-side of the infield. Matthes drove in a run later in the inning, and May scored the game's final run on a wild pitch.

Samford will return to action on Wednesday, when the Bulldogs play at Georgia State. The first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. Central.