BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— The Samford baseball team overcame an early seven-run deficit to earn a 10-8 win over Radford in the second game of a three-game series Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
After Radford grabbed a 7-0 lead in the second inning, the Samford bullpen limited the Highlanders to one run over the final seven innings.
 
"The biggest thing was, Philip Flach came in and got us out of a jam, and then Jake Greer was phenomenal, especially for his first outing," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "I'm really proud of him. I'm really encouraged by, for the second night in a row, Philip doing a nice job. Mark (Donham) did his job. Andres (Gracia) scared us a little bit, but he got it home for us. That was a really nice job by our bullpen today."
 
Offensively, with Samford behind 8-3 entering the fifth inning, the Bulldogs plated seven runs over the final four innings to come back for the win. The comeback was aided by a pair of two-run home runs. Richard Greene hit his second homer in two games to tie the game in the seventh inning, and then Alex Lee homered in the eighth inning to give the Bulldogs the lead.
 
"We got a lot of big hits," Dunn said. "Obviously, it was nice to get those two balls out of the yard. We had the two big swings there, but we also had a lot of good at-bats throughout the day."
 
For Samford at the plate, Hunter Swilling went 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBI. Lee and Greene had two hits, including a homer and two RBI apiece. Jared Watson went 2-for-5 with an RBI, while Anthony Gonzalez went 2-for-4 for the Bulldogs.
 
Mark Donham (1-0) earned the win on the mound for Samford, pitching 2.0 innings, allowing no runs on two hits. Andres Gracia tossed the final inning to earn his first save of the season. Jared Brasher, Eric Wright, Philip Flach and Jake Greer also saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs.
 
For Radford, Patrick Marshall went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and five RBI. Josh Reavis went 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Josh Gardiner went 2-for-4 for the Highlanders. Travis McQueen (0-1) pitched 1.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits to take the loss on the mound for Radford.
 
The Highlanders plated three runs in the first inning and four runs in the second to take a 7-0 lead over the Bulldogs. Marshall hit a three-run homer for the runs in the first inning. In the second inning, Reavis drove in two runs and Marshall drove in one, while Marshall later scored on a double steal.
 
Samford started its comeback with three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Swilling, Brandon Powell and T.J. Dixon drove in Samford's runs in the inning to cut the Radford lead to 7-3.
 
After Radford added a run in the fourth inning, Samford plated a run in the fifth inning to make the score 8-4. Swilling singled to drive in Heath Quinn for Samford's fourth run of the contest.
 
Samford added two runs in the sixth inning to close to within two runs at 8-6. Gonzalez doubled to lead off the inning and then scored on a single by Greene for the inning's first run. Greene later scored on a single by Watson.
 
In the seventh inning, Swilling was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and then moved to second base on a bunt by Brandon Powell. With two outs, Greene homered to left field to tie the score at 8-8.
 
In the eighth inning, Watson singled to lead off the inning. With one out, Lee homered to left field to give the Bulldogs a 10-8 lead.
 
Gracia came in to pitch the top of the ninth inning. After allowing a single and a pair of one-out walks, Gracia retired the final two batters to end the threat and secure the win for Samford.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 1-1 on the young season. Radford falls to 1-1 with the loss.
 
Samford and Radford will conclude their series with a game Sunday at 1 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. Live stats will be available through a link on the Samford baseball page on www.samfordsports.com.