BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Though Samford scored first with two runs in the first, the Wofford baseball team plated five in the second and never looked back en route to an 8-2 win Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Wofford improves to 35-17 (12-8 SoCon) as Samford falls to 34-20 (14-7 SoCon).
 
The result secures a series victory for the Terriers, who end the regular season with back-to-back series triumphs. Wofford is the only team all season to win a series over Samford in Birmingham and only the second SoCon team to take two-of-three from the Bulldogs (UNCG last weekend in Greensboro).
 
John Gray (1-0) earned the win after delivering the best performance of his young career. The sophomore right-hander pitched 4.0 innings of shutout baseball in relief while tallying three strikeouts. The win is the first of his career, and his innings and punchouts are both career highs. Gray allowed just four hits and issued no walks to retire 12 of the 16 batters he faced. Branton Little started for Wofford, pitching the first 4.0 innings with just two runs allowed on four hits and two walks, though his final three innings were scoreless. He struck out four. Alec Bouchard hurled the ninth, posting a 1-2-3 frame for the second-straight day and sealing the win with a strikeout.
 
Brooks Rice (4-4) suffered the loss for Samford in a starting role after giving up four runs in 1.1 innings of work. He surrendered two hits and a walk.
 
Wofford was led by Jack Renwick and Tyler Hare offensively as the duo tallied almost half of the 13 Terrier hits. Each knocked three hits with Renwick driving in three runs as one of his hits was a double. Hare added an RBI with a solo homer, his 14^th long ball of the campaign. Dixon Black recorded the last multi-hit effort for Wofford with two knocks and two RBI.
 
Marshall Toole added a hit and two walks to reach base three times. He stole a base and scored a run, now sitting one shy of tying the single-season program records for both marks. Brice Martinez and Daniel Jackson both reached twice with a hit and a walk. Jackson's hit was a solo homer, his 10^th of the season. The freshman has extended his on-base streak to 41 games, tied for second-longest in the program's history. His mark is one shy of Toole's 42-game run from earlier this season.
 
Alongside Toole's swipe, Black, Jackson and Renwick each stole a base in the contest with Renwick snagging two.
 
Samford struck first in the bottom of the first with a pair of runs. A walk was followed by an RBI triple, and a sacrifice fly pushed across the second run. The Bulldogs held an early 2-0 edge.
 
The Terriers punched right back in a big way in the top of the second with five runs to claim the lead. A single and back-to-back hit batsmen loaded the bases for Jack Renwick, who laced a single back up the middle to score two and tie the game. After Marshall Toole's walk re-loaded the bags, Dixon Black dropped a single into shallow left that also scored two and pushed the Terriers ahead. Toole and Black executed a double steal that proved key, as an errant pitch sailed to the backstop and allowed Toole to rush home from third. Wofford bounced back into a 5-2 lead.
 
Pitching settled in for scoreless frames in the third and fourth. Branton Little clamped down in the bottom of the fourth on the mound to work out of a jam. With two runners on and one out, he notched a strikeout before inducing a grounder for out three to escape unscathed and preserve the Wofford lead. In the top of the fifth, he was rewarded by his freshman catcher as Daniel Jackson went yard, lifting an opposite-field solo shot to right. The Wofford lead extended to 6-2.
 
John Gray came on to pitch in the fifth and held Samford scoreless as the pitching settled back in for both clubs. Gray and his counterpart on the Bulldog mound would add up zeroes on the scoreboard until Gray's efforts were reward by his offense in the top of the ninth. The Terriers tacked on two insurance runs, beginning with Tyler Hare's lead-off homer to right field. A single by Lucas Manning got a runner on, and the man on first was swapped out for Adam Haber with a fielder's choice. After Tyler Bak pinch ran, Renwick made sure he scored by ripping a double down the right field line. As the speedy Bak raced home, Wofford pushed its lead to 8-2.
 
Alec Bouchard took the mound for the bottom of the ninth and set the Bulldogs down in order to ice the game. He struck out the final batter to emphatically punctuate the 8-2 Terrier triumph, locking down a series win.
 
With the regular season now closed, Wofford sets its sights on the Southern Conference Tournament. The event begins on Wednesday, May 22, in Greenville, S.C., at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive. Based on the current standings, Wofford should enter the event as the No. 5 seed and would match up against The Citadel as the No. 8 seed. The contest would take place at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday as a single-elimination play-in game. The match-up will be confirmed with the release of the official tournament bracket later tonight upon the conclusion of the remaining slate of league games today.