April 18, 2006

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford's Garrett Rice hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning to lift the Bulldog baseball team to a 4-2 win over cross-town rival Birmingham-Southern Tuesday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

"We pitched really well, and that was great to see," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "Having to run several guys out there to pitch, you always worry about how they will perform, but all four of our guys pitched really well.

"The difference in the game was, when they had the bases loaded and no outs, Doug Denson did a good job of limiting them to just two runs," Dunn said. "When we were in a similar situation, Garrett got the big hit to put us on top."

For Samford (21-16) in the game, John Morgan was 2-for-4 at the plate. Rice drove in three runs in a 1-for-4 performance. Denson got the win on the mound for Samford, pitching 4.2 innings in relief of starter Eric Lassiter, giving up one earned run on three hits. Joseph Edens pitched the final inning to earn his OVC-leading eighth save of the season.

For BSC (19-16), Billy Froehlich went 2-for-4 at the plate. Bailey Pratt gave up three earned runs over 6.0 innings to take the loss on the mound for the Panthers.

Birmingham-Southern plated its two runs in the fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead. Casey Bond reached on a fielder's choice to score Brandon Hynick for the first run of the game. Allen Aubin then flew out to left field to drive in Froehlich for a 2-0 BSC lead.

In the sixth inning, Samford's Bear Burnett few out to right field to drive in Morgan for Samford's first run of the game. Rice then followed with his fourth home run of the season, a three-run shot with Parker Gargis and Louis Rojas on base to make the final score 4-2.

Samford and Birmingham-Southern will play again on Wednesday at BSC's Striplin Field at 6:00 p.m. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.al.com/wvsu or www.samfordsports.com.