Box Score BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team earned its sixth-straight win in a 5-2 victory over the Jacksonville State Gamecocks Wednesday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
"It was nice to pitch well and to play well defensively," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "Offensively, we had some guys do a good job of taking advantage of opportunities at the plate."
 
With the win, Samford improves to 8-4, while Jacksonville State falls to 6-5 with the loss. In the series with Jacksonville State, Samford has now won five of the last six meetings.
 
For Samford at the plate, Brandon Powell went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Drew McWhorter went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. Damon Waller went 2-for-4 with a home run and one RBI. Frankie Navarrete went 2-for-3 for the Bulldogs.
 
Cody Pugh (2-0) pitched 5.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Pugh struck out six batters in the win. Patrick McGavin tossed the final 3.0 innings, allowing one hit and striking out six batters to pick up his first save of the season.
 
Jacksonville State was led at the plate by Paschal Petrongolo, going 1-for-4 with a triple and an RBI. Ryan Sebra also drove in a run, going 1-for-4 at the plate. Casey Antley (1-2) pitched 2.0 innings, allowing two runs on three hits to take the loss on the mound for JSU.
 
Samford jumped out to an early lead with a run in the second inning and another run in the third inning. In the second inning, McWhorter led the inning off with a solo home run for a 1-0 Samford lead. In the third inning, Brandon Haarer walked and later scored from third base on a sacrifice fly by Heath Quinn to make the score 2-0.
 
The Bulldogs plated their third run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning. Powell singled to lead off the inning. After advancing to second base on a wild pitch, Powell scored on a single by McWhorter for a 3-0 Samford lead.
 
Jacksonville State came back with two runs in the top of the sixth inning. Petrongolo tripled to center field to drive in Eddie Mora-Loera for the Gamecocks' first run of the game. Sebra then singled to drive in Petrongolo to make the score 3-2.
 
Samford answered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the score 5-2. Waller homered to right field to lead off the inning. Navarrete then doubled and advanced to third base on a fly out. Powell then singled to drive in Navarrete for a three-run Samford lead.
 
Samford will return to action on Friday, March 7, when the Bulldogs open a three-game home series with Louisiana-Monroe. Friday's series opener is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field.