Butler, Ervin Power Samford Past Appalachian State

Game 2: #3 Samford 5, #6 Appalachian State 3
Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - The No. 3 seed Samford Bulldogs held the No. 6 seed Appalachian State Mountaineers scoreless in the last eight innings to win 5-3 and advance in 2011 Bennett Hospitality Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Carolina Ford Dealers.

Samford (35-22) will move on to face No. 7 seed Furman tomorrow at 5 p.m. while Appalachian State (31-26) moves to the consolation bracket to face No. 2 seed UNCG tomorrow at 9 a.m.

After giving up three runs in the first inning, the Samford pitching staff surrendered just five hits the rest of the game and shutdown the Mountaineer offense. The Bulldog bullpen pitched the 2.1 innings, striking out three and giving up only one hit.

Earning up the win for the Bulldogs was Kyle Putkonen, who improved to 7-2 on the year. The Samford starter pitched 5.2 innings, giving up three run, and recording one strikeout. Ryan Arrowood was saddled with the loss to fall to 8-3 on the year after throwing 6.2 innings and giving up four runs, three of which were earned, and striking out six.

Offensively, centerfielder Phillip Ervin led the Samford attack, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Appalachian State designated hitter Daniel Kassouf went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored to lead all Mountaineer hitters.

Appalachian State erupted for three runs on the five hits in the first inning to jump out to the early lead. Leading the way for the Mountaineers in the inning was Kassouf, who knocked in two runs with a double, and Preston Troutman, who had a RBI single to left field.

Samford would get one of the runs back in the bottom of the first when Ervin hit a RBI single through the right side to score Michael Johnson.

After the scoring in the first inning, both pitchers began to find their grove as neither team scored until the bottom of the fifth when Samford scored three runs to take the 4-3 advantage. The Bulldogs connected for five hits, including a two-run, ground-rule double by Saxon Miller, against Mountaineer starter Arrowood. It was Miller's 26th double of the season, tying him for fourth all-time on the SoCon single-season list.

Samford added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly from Tyler Filliben in the eighth inning to push the Bulldogs lead to 5-3.

Closer Andrew Jones pitched the final 1.2 innings to earn his league-leading 14th save of the season.