Busy Day for Samford Sports: Football Downs #20 Wofford, Softball Splits @ UAB, Baseball Gets Swept
- Chris S
- Mar 13, 2021
- 7 min read
Football
There's No Place Like Home; Samford Defense Seals the Deal for 6th Straight Win Over Wofford
Samford Football rebounded in a big way after last week's Overtime loss @ Furman by upsetting #20 Wofford here in Seibert Stadium 37-31. Samford moved the ball with efficiency, picking up 461 total yards. Liam Welch must have had a good week of practice, as he completed 24 of 36, good for 359 yards and a Touchdown. His one INT came on the first pass of the game as the ball popped out of the hands of a receiver and settled with a Terrier defender.
The Bulldogs had 5 different players tote the rock, racking up enough yards to eclipse the century mark, totaling 102 yards. Dakota Chapman led the team with 38 yards on the ground and entered the Promised Land once today, bringing his season total up to 95 yards, his 2nd touchdown on the ground, and his 3rd touchdown overall in the past month. Backup QB Chris Oladokun led the team with 2 rushing touchdowns, both coming from 1 yard rushes. The first capped off a 12 play, 78 yard drive to put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard in the 1st Quarter and the 2nd capping a 5 play, 44 yard drive to give Samford its first lead of the game at 31-24 with 8:48 left in the 3rd Quarter.
Liam Welch's favorite target on the day was Ty King, combining for 178 yards on 7 receptions (that's an impressive 25 yards per catch!) and Welch's only throwing touchdown to tie the game at 24 after King took a 52 yard post route for a house call on Samford's first possession after intermission.
Samford's defense did just enough to ensure victory, really stepping up after half time and only allowing 1 Terrier score after the break. The defense forced 3 straight 3-and-outs after half time and then on back to back possessions, picking off the Wofford Starting QB at the Samford 22 and then stopping a 33 yard QB keeper by the backup QB when Safety Chris Edmonds punched the ball loose, allowing teammate Hakeem Johnson to fall on the ball. With the Terriers near midfield with just under a minute left, Freshman Wade White sealed the upset with a pick of his own, returning the ball for a 10 yard gain before stepping out of bounds with just under 50 seconds on the clock.
In the First Half, Samford allowed 24 of the 31 total points, allowing 271 total yards. Whatever adjustments were made in the locker room obviously worked as the defense allowed just 219 yards and just 7 points in the final 40 minutes of play.
Speaking of adjustments, the Offense made the right ones. After scoring 17 points in the first half on 8 possessions, Samford exploded for 20 points on just 6 possessions. In the second half, Liam Welch threw the ball all over the yard, totaling 202 yards in the air after just 157 in the previous 40 minutes.
Samford was very efficient, picking up 19 first downs on the day and only committing 4 penalties. One place where we need to get better for next week is 3rd down efficiency. Today Samford converted on just 43% of 3rd downs. That won't fly next week as our opportunities will be limited against VMI and their ground and pound option offense.
Speaking of the Keydets, Samford will play host to VMI next week with Kickoff scheduled for high noon yet again. VMI had a bye week this week after demolishing Mercer 41-14 last week.
Softball
Samford Deals First Loss of the Season to Southern Illinois with First No-Hitter Since 2016; Drop Game 2 to Ball State
Game 1: W 2-0
Taylor DeCelles (W, 1-2) and Emily Barnett (S, 2) combined for Samford's first no-no since the SoCon Tournament against UNCG all the way back in 2016. DeCelles, the team's Southpaw, started the game, controlling the circle for 5 full innings, walking 3 and striking out 4. Teammate Emily Barnett came in for the 6-out save, striking out 3 of the 7 batters she faced. Barnett got her other 3 outs via groundouts to Pitcher, Short, and Third. Barnett got two to swing and miss and one was frozen at the plate.
Timberlyn Shurbutt provided the offense for the Bulldogs today with a 2 run blast, driving in Abigail Dorsett who was running for First Baseman Ally Bigham after Bigham reached on a leadoff single. Shurbutt's home run was just one of her team leading 3 hits, with Shurbutt reaching on an infield single to Short in the 1st and reaching on a single up the middle of the infield in the 3rd.
Amanda Briskin and Jordan Moore were the only other Bulldogs to tally extra-base hits with the pair hitting a double.
Game 2: L 9-6
Emily Barnett started in the circle for Game 2 of the day for the Bulldogs, lasting 2+ innings. Barnett allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits and striking out 2. Taylor DeCelles (L, 1-3) was tagged with the loss after lasting 3.1 and overseeing 3 runs on 4 hits and forcing 1 Cardinal to grab some pine. McKenna Gillespie recorded the final 2 outs of the game after surrendering 2 runs on 2 hits and walking 1.
The warm weather seems to be doing wonders for the Samford bats, with the team tallying 9 hits on the day. Timberlyn Shurbutt took full advantage of this, smashing a solo long ball in the 2nd and driving in her 4th run of the day with a sac fly to Right Field. Ansley Yantis and Jordan Moore joined Shurbutt on her extra-base parade with the two both knocking the cover off the ball for doubles.
Kathryn Jackson had a successful day behind the dish, cutting down 2 of the 3 Cardinals that tested her arm with the first coming in the 2nd inning and the other coming in the 4th inning. This ties her season high of runners caught stealing and brings her total on the season up to 7 runners gunned down
Samford will finish out the UAB Classic tomorrow against Southern Illinois with first pitch to come just after 11am over on the campus of UAB. Samford will then return home for a midweek contest next Wednesday the 17th as a battle of the Bulldogs commence with SEC foe Mississippi State coming to town. First pitch for next Wednesday is currently set for 6pm, but weather might change that.
Baseball
Bulldogs Get Swept in Aggie-Land
Game 1: L 21-4
This game was all A&M as the Aggies scored in every inning and put up a crooked number in every inning except for 7th (only 1 run) and the 9th (they didn't bat). With how lopsided this affair was, I think it's wise to say as little as possible and move on to the much closer Series finale.
Jesse McCord (L, 0-3) started for the Bulldogs, lasting 3 innings, giving up 7 earned runs (8 crossed the plate) on 7 hits and 3 walks and striking out 2. This outing further inflates McCord's ERA 9.87. It's still early in the season and it's likely that he'll finish somewhere around the 3.00 to 3.50 range. There are no statistics that I can point to for this assertion. I am basing this entirely on my experience of seeing pitchers struggle to start the season and my seeing his outing last Saturday where he pitched fairly well except for a couple of misses in the 4th and 6th innings.
If we ignore the score, Samford had a decent day at the plate, reaching base 13 times. 8 of these were base knocks and Colton Leadbetter had the sole extra base hit with a double to right field in the top of the 8th. Garrett Howe was the sole Bulldog to tally multiple hits on the day. Another positive on the day was that every single Samford starter reached base at least once with 7 of the 8 hits coming from the group.
Game 3: L 5-2
Well at least this loss is easier to swallow than the last game. The Bulldogs rebounded well after what could have been a demoralizing defeat and kept the game close.
Zach Hester (L, 0-1) took the mound for the second leg of today's doubleheader. Hester pitched the first 4 innings, allowing 1 earned runs (3 crossed the plate) on 4 hits and one hit batter. Hester tied his season high of 5 strikeouts today. Hester has increased his workload in each outing so far as Hester is coming off of an injury suffered last year against UNC Asheville during the 2020 season's Opening Weekend. Hamp Skinner relieved Hester, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits and 2 walks, accompanied by 2 strikeouts. Relievers Carson Cupo and Chase Isbell each pitched one inning, allowing just one hit and striking out 2 between them.
Texas A&M led 5-0 for most of the game until Samford was able to scratch across a run in both the 8th and 9th. Reminds me of the Vince Lombardi quote, "We didn't lose, we just ran out of time." Ryan Crockett led the charge for the Bulldogs, reaching base twice via base hits.
The road doesn't get any easier for Samford as the team visits Starkvegas for one game on Tuesday before starting SoCon play in Greensboro, NC for a 3 game series against UNCG
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