BIRMINGHAM, Ala.— The Samford baseball team plated seven runs over the final three innings to pull away from Austin Peay for an 11-3 win in game one of the teams' three-game series Friday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
"This was a good job by our guys," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "On what was an extremely cold day, I thought our guys did a great job of creating their own atmosphere and energy. Our guys did a great job of getting some energy and being excited in the dugout and I thought that showed on the field."
 
At the plate for Samford, Hunter Swilling went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. T.J. Dixon went 3-for-5, while Alex Lee and Damon Waller had two hits each. Heath Quinn and Richard Greene also homered in the game for the Bulldogs.
 
Alex Ledford (1-1) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up just two earned runs on seven hits to earn the win for the Bulldogs. Ledford struck out eight batters, while walking just two. Parker Curry pitched 3.0 innings, allowing no runs on just one hit, and Tristan Widra tossed the final inning to finish the game for Samford.
 
For Austin Peay, Cayce Bredlau went 3-for-5 at the plate. Garrett Copeland went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Logan Gray also drove in a run for the Governors. Jared Carkuff (1-1) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up six runs, just four earned, on eight hits to take the loss on the mound.
 
After Austin Peay took an early lead with a run in the top of the first inning, Samford came back with two runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 2-1 lead. Damon Waller and Austin Edens drove in a run each in the inning for Samford.
 
Austin Peay took the lead again with two runs in the top of the third inning. Bredlau and Gray led the inning off with back-to-back doubles to tie the game at 2-2. Copeland later drove in the go-ahead run for a 3-2 Austin Peay lead.
 
Samford took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the third inning. T.J Dixon led the inning off with a single and later scored on an error for the tying run. Swilling later singled to drive in Jared Watson for a 4-3 Samford lead.
 
The Bulldogs pulled away with two runs in the sixth inning, two runs in the seventh inning and three more runs in the eighth inning. In the sixth inning, Swilling hit a two-run home run to center field for a 6-3 Samford lead. In the seventh inning, Quinn hit a two-run homer to left-center field to push the lead to 8-3. In the eighth inning, Greene homered to left-center field for the game's final three runs, making the final score 11-3.
 
In the win, Samford out-hit Austin Peay, 13-8. The game was played with temperatures in the high-20s and low-30s.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 2-2 on the young season. Austin Peay falls to 2-1 with the loss.
 
The two teams will continue their series with a game Saturday at 11 a.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Live stats will be available at www.samfordsports.com.