Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader From Eastern Illinois :: Samford won the games by scores of 13-5 and 11-1

April 22, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford baseball team swept an Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader from Eastern Illinois Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Samford won the games by scores of 13-5 and 11-1.

For the doubleheader, Trey Moody and Michael Marseco collected five hits each. Moody, Luke Peavy and Garrett Rice had a home run each, with Rice's being a grand slam in the first inning of game two.

In game one, Samford (23-16, 12-2 OVC) jumped on top early with two runs in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. Moody homered with Peavy, who had singled to lead the inning off, on base for the first two runs of the day.

Samford put seven more runs on the board in the fourth inning to push its lead to 9-0. Peavy drove in three of the Bulldogs' runs in the inning with a two-run home run and a sacrifice fly. Louis Rojas and Matt Alling each drove in a run for Samford in the inning. The other two Samford runs in the inning were scored on EIU errors.

EIU (19-17, 7-7 OVC) plated a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to cut Samford's lead to 9-3. Mark Chagnon drove in the run in the fifth, and Erik Huber drove in both runs in the sixth for the Panthers.

Samford plated two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth, and EIU added a run in the eighth and another in the ninth to make the final score 13-5.

Josh Ehmke earned the win on the mound for Samford in game one. Ehmke pitched 6.0 innings, giving up three runs on seven hits. Brandon Murphy took the loss for EIU, tossing 3.1 innings, surrendering seven runs on eight hits.

Samford scored five runs in the first inning of game two to take an early 5-0 lead. Rice's grand slam with Bear Burnett, Rojas and John Morgan on base brought in the majority of the runs in the inning. Parker Gargis also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the inning.

EIU scored its lone run of the game in the top of the second inning to cut Samford's lead to 5-1. Pete Stone doubled to drive in Casey Spears for the Panthers.

Samford added six runs in the fourth inning to wrap up the scoring a make the final score 11-1. Marseco drove in three runs with a bases-loaded triple. Gargis, Burnett and Alling drove in a run each in the fourth for the Bulldogs.

Eric Lassiter pitched the complete game in the seven-inning contest to pick up the win. He gave up just one run on four hits to earn his fourth win of the season. Kenny Firlit tossed 3.0 innings, giving up seven runs on six hits to take the loss for EIU.

Samford and Eastern Illinois will play the third game of their series Sunday at 1:00 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. 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. Fans can also follow the game via GameTracker at www.samfordsports.com.