AUBURN, Ala. – The Samford baseball team outlasted the No. 13 ranked Golden Eagles of Southern Miss 4-2 in 10 innings on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Auburn Regional.
The victory improves Samford to 37-23 overall and marks the program's first regional postseason win since its 7-6 win over No. 7 Florida State in Tallahassee in 2018.
Garrett Staton led the Bulldogs with a four-hit, two-RBI effort in the victory. The sophomore infielder slugged a pair of RBI doubles while also scoring once.
Josh Rodriguez also logged a multi-hit effort, including the go-ahead home run in the top of the 10th. Lucas Steele knocked a pair of hits while Kaden Dreier and Andrew Bennett each recorded a hit and run.
Ben Petschke (6-3) tossed the final four innings of relief to earn the win, striking out three and giving up just one run on three hits.
Starting pitcher Jacob Cravey conceded just one run on five hits over the first six innings. The junior righty struck out five in the no-decision.
Cravey and Petschke combined to strand 14 Southern Miss baserunners, beginning with Cravey escaping a bases-loaded second-inning jam unscathed by inducing a groundout to first with two away.
The Bulldogs struck first in the contest, with an RBI double by Staton in the top of the third giving Samford a 1-0 advantage. A pair of singles by Dreier and Rodriguez set the stage for Staton in the inning.
The Golden Eagles knotted the score at 1 in the bottom of the fifth courtesy of an RBI sac fly from Dustin Dickerson that was preceded by a single to left from Rodrigo Montenegro and a double down the left-field line by leadoff man Matthew Etzel.
In Cravey's final inning, he was able to strand a pair of Golden Eagle baserunners with an inning-ending pop-out to third in foul territory following a double to right that put runners at second and third.
Southern Miss applied the pressure in the bottom of the ninth inning, with a pair of singles and an intentional walk to Slade Wilks loading the bases with two away before a flyout to center ended the scoring threat.
Rodriguez led off the 10th with his 12th home run of the season, which put Samford up 2-1. Back-to-back doubles by Bennett and Staton doubled Samford's lead to 3-1, followed by a sac fly by Klein to account for the inning's final blow.
The Golden Eagles loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th on a leadoff single from Reece Ewing and a pair of walks. Petschke settled things down with a groundout to first, followed by a strikeout and a game-ending flyout to left.
"Obviously an exciting day for our guys and our program and our university as a whole," head coach Tony David said. "We talked to our guys when we finished our tripleheader on Saturday that we weren't coming here for a sightseeing tour. We really feel like we're playing well. And when we found out where we were going, this was a place we felt like we can have success and I really felt like our guys believe that this week. It certainly played like it today. We know Southern Miss has a great program and has for decades and what Coach Berry has done there is incredible. We knew we were going to be facing one of the best arms in the nation and it would be challenging. The quality at bats did a great job for us."
The Bulldogs will play the winner of the Auburn/Penn contest Saturday night for a chance to advance to the regional finals. First pitch from Plainsman Park is slated for 8 p.m. (CST).