Bulldogs Take Series from Eagles
3/19/2011 10:30:00 PM | Baseball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Georgia Southern Baseball team (11-9, 3-2) fell to Samford (15-6, 5-0) for the second-straight day, 9-2 at Joe Lee Griffin Field and dropped its first series to the Bulldogs since they entered the Southern Conference. Another grand slam by Saxon Butler blew open the game early and powered the Bulldogs to their best start yet in SoCon play.
Lex Rutledge picked up his fourth win of the year after a quality start. The sophomore pitcher allowed two runs on four hits in seven innings of work and struck out seven batters while walking four. C.K. Irby closed out the game for Samford and struck out four Eagles in just two innings without allowing a run.
Shawn Payne (Stone Mountain, Ga.) extended his reached-base streak to 49 games with a base hit in the third inning. Ronnie Freeman of Kennesaw State extended his streak to 49 games last night after reaching in the first inning on an error.
Samford got on the board early and scored five runs in the first two innings. A two-out single by Kevin Putkonen plated a runner in the first inning before a repeat performance by Butler drove in four runs with his second grand slam of the series.
The Eagles got two runs back in the third inning after loading the bases without an out. A fielder's choice by Michael Burruss (Marietta, Ga.) and a RBI single from Eric Phillips (Carrollton, Ga.) scored the two runs. Brent Pugh (Atlanta, Ga.) led off the inning with a bunt single and moved to second base after Arthur Owens (Fayetteville, Ga.) worked a walk. Payne loaded the bases with a base hit to left field, but he was out on the fielder's choice.
Brandon Miller, who scored Samford's first run on Friday night with a solo shot, put another run on the board for the Bulldogs with his fifth home run of the season. Miller launched another solo job in the fifth inning to extend the Samford lead to 6-2. The Bulldogs added another run in the sixth inning on back-to-back two out hits and scored two more runs in the seventh inning.
Josh Adams (Bath, S.C.) lasted only one inning and was tagged with his second loss of the season. Adams allowed four runs on three hits, walking two and striking out one batter. Jarret Leverett (Eatonton, Ga.) threw five innings in relief of the junior pitcher, allowing five runs on nine hits including the two home runs. Justin Hess (Panama City, Fla.) threw two scoreless innings to close out the game for the Eagles.
Georgia Southern and Samford will meet one last time at Joe Lee Griffin Field for the series finale on Sunday at 2 p.m. EST. Moye (1-1, 4.32 ERA) is set to take the mound for Georgia Southern, while the Bulldogs will counter with Charles Basford (2-0, 1.15 ERA).
All games this season can be heard on 102.9 FM in Statesboro and are also available online at GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/Eaglevision beginning 30 minutes prior to first pitch. Ryan Chambers of the Georgia Southern Radio Network will call all the action.
Fans may follow Georgia Southern Baseball by visiting GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/baseball or check in at twitter.com/GSAthletics or facebook.com/GSAthletics for short updates.
