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Samford Slugs Past Top Seed Appalachian State, 12-7
Box Score
SoCon Tournament Central
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Brandon Miller blasted a pair of two-run home runs as No. 4 seed Samford knocked off top-seeded Appalachian State, 12-7, in game eight of the 2012 Southern Conference Baseball Tournament Thursday evening at Fluor Field.
Samford (37-21) reaches the tournament semifinals on Saturday where it will need one win in two chances against Appalachian State or Furman to reach the SoCon championship game for the second consecutive season.
Appalachian State (39-15) takes on Furman Friday night at 7 p.m. in an elimination contest.
Miller's homers, which came in the fifth and seventh innings, were each towering blasts, the first of which landed on top of the roof of the field house beyond the Green Monster in left. With 22 home runs on the season, Miller assumes sole possession of first place nationally in round-trippers.
All nine Samford starters recorded a hit in the contest as Appalachian State surrendered a season-high 16 hits.
Christiaan Durdaller and Austin Allison laced back-to-back doubles in the third to stake Samford to a 3-0 lead, and the Bulldogs would carry a 4-0 advantage into the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, Tyler Tewell had an RBI, ground-rule double for the Mountaineers to get ASU on the board. Following a Jeremy Dowdy sacrifice fly that plated Daniel Kassouf, first baseman Trey Holmes hit an opposite field two-run homer to left to knot the game at four apiece.
Samford responded, however, with four runs in the fifth, including the first of Millers' two homers. The Bulldogs never trailed the rest of the way.
Appalachian State starter Seth Grant, who entered the contest with the second-lowest ERA in the SoCon at 2.70, allowed eight runs, all earned, on eight hits in 4.2 innings of work. He fell to 6-3 with the defeat.
Samford's Charles Basford surrendered seven runs on nine hits, although just two of the tallies were earned. He struck out four while improving to 9-2 this season.
C.K. Irby came on in relief in a non-save situation and record three consecutive called strikeouts to end ASU's threat and preserve the win.