Box Score BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford junior pitcher Alex Ledford pitched the complete game, giving up four runs, just three earned, to give the Bulldog baseball team a 10-4 win in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference series against Western Carolina Friday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
The Bulldogs turned in a strong overall performance in earning the win. In addition to Ledford's impressive outing on the mound, Samford pounded out 11 hits, including two home runs, and turned three double plays, defensively.
 
"It was a good night," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "I thought we did a good job early of coming out and scoring some runs on them. I thought we played really well defensively. We only walked two guys, and we were able to turn a double play on the next batter, both times."
 
Ledford (5-2) struck out six batters, while allowing just two walks in earning the win. The performance marked the first complete game for a Samford pitcher since C.K. Irby tossed a complete game at Furman on March 22, 2013.
 
Offensively for Samford, Tripp Martin went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBI. Drew McWhorter went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Jared Watson hit a two-run home run, going 1-for-4 at the plate.
 
For Western Carolina, Matt Smith went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Luke Gragg went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Catamounts. Jeremy Null (7-2) pitched 7.0 innings, giving up eight runs, six earned, on nine hits to take the loss on the mound for Western Carolina.
 
The Catamounts jumped on top first with two runs in the top of the second inning. Samford, however, answered with five runs in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead for good at 5-2. Heath Quinn doubled to lead off the inning for Samford. With one out, Brandon Powell doubled to drive in Quinn for Samford's first run of the game. Powell then scored on a WCU error to tie the score at 2-2.
 
Martin then singled to drive in Hunter Swilling, who had reached base on the error, for a 3-2 Samford lead. T.J. Dixon later reached base on an infield single to drive in Martin to make the score 4-2. McWhorter then singled up the middle to drive in Frankie Navarrete for a 5-2 Samford lead.
 
Samford added two runs in the fourth inning to make the score 7-2. Martin walked to lead off the inning. With two outs in the inning, Watson homered to left field for a five-run Samford lead.
 
The Bulldogs plated another run in the sixth inning to push their lead to 8-2. With one out, Martin hit a home run to left field for Samford's eighth run of the contest. The home run was Martin's eighth of the season.
 
Western Carolina came back with two runs in the top of the eighth inning to cut the Samford lead to 8-4. Aaron Attaway singled to drive in Gragg for the first run of the inning. Cody Jones later singled to drive in Smith to bring the Catamounts to within four runs.
 
Samford added two final runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the final score 10-4. With two outs in the inning, Martin singled and Navarrete doubled, moving Martin to third base. Both runners scored when Dixon reached base on a WCU error for the final two runs of the contest.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 26-16 overall and 10-6 in Southern Conference play. Western Carolina falls to 26-14 overall and 11-4 in league play. The win, coupled with Elon's loss to UNCG, moves Samford into third place in the SoCon standings. Western Carolina is currently in second place in the league.
 
The teams will continue their three-game 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.