Senior Ryan Maka (Oak Forest, Ill. / Oak Forest) collected two more hits to sustain his solid start to the season, but the Valparaiso University baseball team dropped Sunday's series finale to Samford 15-5 in seven innings in Birmingham, Ala.
 
How It Happened

• A double, ground ball and wild pitch helped Samford produce a run in the opening inning.
• The Beacons leveled the score in the top of the second as junior Austin Amburgey (Miamisburg, Ohio / Miamisburg) singled and eventually came around to score the tying run.
• Samford scored nine times in the bottom of the second including a grand slam by Cade Carr. The Bulldogs added one more in the third on another RBI by Carr to make it 11-1.
• Valpo climbed back into the game with a four-run fourth to cut the lead to six at 11-5. Redshirt sophomore Thomas Cooper (Brentwood, Tenn. / Ravenwood) clubbed a two-run double as a key component of that rally.
• Samford scored twice in the fifth, then redshirt sophomore Ryan Kruse (Detroit, Mich. / U of D Jesuit) came on to work the sixth and had the best outing of the day by a Beacon pitcher, working a scoreless frame with a pair of strikeouts.
• Five free passes in succession – two walks and three hit batters – pushed across two runs in the bottom of the seventh, allowing Samford to clinch the run-rule victory 15-5.

Inside the Game

• Maka accounted for two of the team's five hits, going 2-for-3 plus a walk.
• Cooper's double was Valpo's lone extra-base knock of the contest. That marked the first extra-base hit of his collegiate career.
• This weekend's sweep came at the hands of an opponent that is coming off a 36-win season and was picked second in the Southern Conference preseason poll. The Bulldogs have reached NCAA Regionals as recently as 2023.

Up Next
Valpo (0-3) will begin a three-game series at Memphis on Friday at 4 p.m. All three games in the series will be streamed on ESPN+.