Post by The Cats on May 3, 2023 22:57:04 GMT -5
Who: Samford Bulldogs
When: Friday, Saturday, Sunday - May 5-7, 2023
Times: 5 pm, 3 pm, 2 pm (ET)
Where: Joe Lee Griffin Field, Homewood, AL
TV/video: ESPN+
Live Stats: SU Live Stats
Nickname: Bulldogs
Location: Homewood, AL
Colors: Blue and Red
Students: 5,729
Message Board: The Dog Pound
This year's record: 25-20 overall, 17-3 home, 8-17 away, 0-0 neutral, 10-5 SoCon
Head Coach: Tony David, a long-time associate head coach at Samford, enters his second season as the program's head coach.
-Overall Record: 52-49 (2nd season)
-Record at Samford: same
The Series: The Cats own a 21-28 overall record vs. the Bulldogs, and are 5-13 in games played at their home field. Western is 3-7 in the last 10 games played and come into the contest this weekend on a 3 game skid, having lost 5 of the last 6 games played. The Cats have not won in Homewood since 2017.
In preseason polling, the Bulldogs were picked to finish 4th by the coaches and 3rd by the media, and had 5 players named to preseason honors. RHP Michael Ross was selected for first team, and Jacob Cravey, Alex Goff, Stephen Klien, and Garrett Staton were selected second team. Cravey was most recently named to the watchlist for the 2023 College Baseball Foundation Pitcher of the Year Award on April 24. The Bulldogs are batting .280 collectively as a team – eighth overall in the league rankings – but are hitting .317 in SoCon play, the third-best team average.
This season, Stephen Klein and John Anderson both rank in the top 10 in the SoCon in slugging percentage, with Anderson ranking fourth at .701 and Klein sitting 10th at .593. On the mound, Ben Petschke ranks second in the SoCon with 19 relief appearances and seven saves on the season.
The junior closer was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Midseason Watchlist on April 26.
Currently, the Bulldogs are tied for first place in the SoCon standings with Wofford and Mercer.
Fri., May 5 | 5 pm ET / 4 pm CT
Projected Pitching Match-up:
WCU – Jr. RHP Jonathan Todd (2-2, 8.33 ERA; 12 app., 5 GS, 33K, 19BB)
SAM – Jr. RHP Jacob Cravey (7-2, 3.69 ERA; 11 app., 11 GS, 86K, 29BB)
Sat., May 6 | 3 pm ET / 2 pm CT
Projected Pitching Match-up:
WCU – Jr. LHP Kyle Riesselmann (1-3, 8.05 ERA; 10 app., 9 GS, 32K, 11BB)
SAM – Jr. RHP Brody Westbrooks (3-2, 5.16 ERA; 12 app., 10 GS, 54K, 19BB)
Sun., May 7 | 2 pm ET / 1 pm CT
Projected Pitching Match-up:
WCU – TBD
SAM – Soph. RHP Will Lynch (3-3, 5.06 ERA; 11 app., 11 GS, 50K, 29BB)
