Box Score BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team belted four home runs on its way to a 9-5 Southern Conference win in the first game of a three-game series with Furman Friday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
Samford's Tyler Filliben went 2-for-4 with two home runs and three RBI. Drew McWhorter went 3-for-4 with a home run and one RBI, while Caleb Bryson went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.
 
"Those were two big swings by Ty," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "Also, it was a heck of a job by Caleb. All four of his at-bats were quality at-bats. I was proud of the way those guys swung the bat. Really, I thought, one through nine, we had some pretty tough at-bats today."
 
Alex Ledford (5-1) pitched 7.2 innings, giving up five runs, just three earned, on five hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Andres Gracia pitched the final 1.1 innings, giving up no runs on three hits to pick up his SoCon-leading eighth save of the season.
 
"I'm proud of Alex," Dunn said. "The ball just wasn't sinking for him today. He gave up a couple of hard-hit balls and we made a couple of mistakes defensively behind him. But, I was proud of the way he competed and battled. He pitched into the eighth inning without his best stuff."
 
For Furman, Jordan Simpson and Chris Ohmstede each went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Hunter Burton went 2-for-5 for the Paladins. Andrew MacLatchie hit a home run and drove in two runs in a 1-for-4 performance.
 
Brant Masters (0-2) pitched 1.1 innings in relief, giving up three runs on three hits to take the loss on the mound for Furman. Matt Solter started the game on the mound for the Paladins, tossing 5.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits.
 
Furman jumped out to a three-run lead with a run in the third inning and two more runs in the fourth inning. In the third inning Ohmstede singled to drive in Alex Abrams, who had walked earlier in the inning, for the game's first run. In the fourth inning, MacLatchie hit a home run with Jake Jones on base for a 3-0 Furman lead.
 
Samford plated its first run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. McWhorter led the inning off with a solo home run to cut the Furman lead to 3-1.
 
The Paladins added two runs in the top of the sixth inning to push their lead to 5-1. Heath Burton reached base on an infield hit and advanced to second base on an error to lead off the inning. Burton later scored on a wild pitch for the first run of the inning. Simpson later singled to drive in Hunter Burton for a four-run Furman lead.
 
Samford tied the score with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, T.J. Dixon reached base on an infield single. Filliben then homered to left field to make the score 5-3. Brandon Powell later singled to drive in Heath Quinn and Tripp Martin to knot the score at 5-5.
 
The Bulldogs took the lead with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs in the inning, Filliben hit a home run to left field, his second of the game and sixth of the season, to give Samford a 6-5 advantage.
 
Samford added three final runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 9-5. McWhorter and Powell had back-to-back one-out singles to get things started. With two outs, Bryson homered to right field for a four-run Samford lead.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 15-10 overall and 3-1 in Southern Conference play. Furman falls to 10-16 overall and 1-3 in league play.
 
The teams will continue their series with a game Saturday at 2 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. The game can also be viewed online via Samford Sports TV at www.samfordsports.com/showcase. Live stats will also be available at www.samfordsports.com.