The mood in the Troy dugout went from ecstatic to utter disbelief over the span of three hours and nine innings Tuesday night.

Troy led Samford 7-0 after the first inning, but when all the dust settled, the Bulldogs carried an 11-9 win back to Birmingham.

Troy plated seven runs in the first inning, but saw Samford chip away inning after inning. Troy’s early lead got smaller and smaller until it ultimately disappeared in the top of the seventh. Samford took advantage of two Troy errors in the inning, including a fly ball that skipped off the glove left fielder Trevin Hall.

Samford picked up six two-out hits, and scored 10 of its 11 runs with two outs in an inning.

“I can’t remember one like this in my career,” said Troy head coach Bobby Pierce. “It’s tough to get out to a 7-0 lead and watch it evaporate. I just got to give this one to baseball. I don’t know what to say. I have had teams win these on the good end, but I don’t know if I have ever had a one of these slip away on the bad end.”

The Trojans sent 12 men to the plate in the first inning, pounded out 5 hits and scored seven runs to put the Bulldogs in the rearview mirror for the time being.

Tyler Vaughn led off the game with a shot to right that was kicked around by Samford’s right fielder Heath Quinn. Garrett Pitts followed Vaughn’s knock with a frozen rope single to right center to plate the game’s first run.

Nick Masonia delivered the inning’s biggest shot with a monstrous home run to left that brought home two runs. Clay Holcomb picked up two RBIs later in the inning on a single to right.

Samford chipped away at the Troy lead the rest of the day, picking up two runs in the second, one in the third, one in the fourth, two in the fifth and four in the seventh to rally back from the early deficit.

“This is baseball, and it is a cruel game at times,” said Pierce. “It is beating us up a little right now. We are going to have to be tough and respond to it and get better in practice. We have to get a little bit more offensive production right now.”

Troy welcomes in the University of New Orleans to Riddle-Pace Field this weekend for a three-game set.