Samford Goes 1-2-1 on the day: Baseball, Softball, and Soccer All in Action
- Chris S
- Mar 5, 2021
- 3 min read
Baseball
Samford Baseball (5-4) played a complete game for the first time in a long while as they defeated win-less Toledo (0-7) 9-4 on a wind-swept night. While the official capacity for baseball games is set at 250 for this season, at a quick glance, it looked like there were 250 people just sitting behind home plate as the team opened their "Family Weekend". Team ace Samual Strickland (W, 2-1) pitched 6 innings of 1 hit ball, striking out 9. 8 of those fooling the batter and making them chase. Strickland did allow one run, but it was unearned as the score was due to an error on the third baseman. Gene Hurst then came in to relieve Strickland in the 7th, getting 3 flyouts and allowing Toledo's only long ball of the night to deep right field. Hurst went back out for the 8th, but allowed a first pitch double down the left field line by the first batter and then walked the next, prompting Coach Dunn to put in Carson Cupo (the birthday boy), who got out of the inning with 3 strikeouts and allowing 1 run on a single through the right side of the infield. Cupo then made quick work of the 2-3-4 hitters in the Top of the 9th to seal the deal, even striking out the final batter to put an exclamation point on the night.
The bats were hot for the Bulldogs, as every batter got to the plate in the first inning, punctuated by DH Tyler McManus' home run to left-center field to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead. Two more Bulldogs would score in the inning to give Samford all the runs that they would need for the night. In the 3rd, Samford tacked on 2 more runs thanks to RBIs by Schafer and Crockett. Also in the 3rd, Towns King stole his 1st of 2 bases on the night. The Bulldogs then scratched across one run in both the 7th and 8th innings.
The Bulldogs will be back in action tomorrow afternoon against the Toledo Rockets with first pitch scheduled for 2pm
Softball
The Bulldogs (6-6) dropped both games against the hosts (9-7) this afternoon as they opened the Ole Miss Classic. The team dropped the first decision 3-0 and then dropped the second one 8-0. Emily Barnett (L, 4-2) pitched the entire game, striking out 4. 3 runs scored under Barnett's watch, but only 2 of those will go into determining her ERA. In Game 2, Abby Swaney (L, 2-2) got the nod and lasted 4 innings, striking out and walking 3 Rebels. While not her best game of the season, it is encouraging to see her start and last for 4 innings after taking that line drive off her left last Sunday against ULM. Samford's bats were quiet today, totaling only 4 hits, 3 of them occurring in the first game and no player amassed more than one hit on the day.
The Bulldogs will continue the Ole Miss Classic early tomorrow morning as they start their double header with Indiana State with the first game starting at 9:30 (reminds me of all those 8am travel ball games back in high school).
Soccer
Samford (0-1-2) started off their conference season with a hard fought draw with Chattanooga (1-0-1) up in Tennessee. Samford's defense was stifling, allowing only one shot and that shot was not on target. Samford got 8 shots off with 6 being judged to be on target. Samford only conceded one corner kick for the entire game (2:40) while taking 7 corners over the entire game (5 in the 1st half, 1 in the 2nd, 0 in the 1st OT, and 1 in the 2nd OT). Chattanooga committed 16 fouls in the game while Samford was more disciplined and only committed 10.
Samford will return from their 2 week "road trip" next Friday as they host the Western Carolina Catamounts. Kick off is scheduled for 6pm across the street from main campus at the Track and Field and Soccer complex.
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