BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team plated five runs in the seventh inning to break open a close game on its way to a 10-3 win in the second game of a three game series against Murray State Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
With the win, Samford secures the series win over the Racers. Samford improves to 16-17 on the season, while Murray State falls to 14-21.
 
Jared Brasher (2-2) pitched 6.0 innings, giving up three runs on five hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. He struck out six batters, while walking just one. Philip Flach, Mark Donham and Mikel Belcher split the final 3.0 innings to close the game out for Samford.
 
"This was a good job of finishing," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "I really thought Jared did a good job of battling without his best stuff today. He wasn't the guy we saw last weekend, but at the same time, he went six innings, only walked one guy and he competed. It was encouraging to see him have success today. All three of the bullpen guys came in and had clean innings as well."
 
For Samford offensively, Austin Edens, Alex Lee and Richard Greene had a home run each in the win. Lee and Greene had two hits each for Samford. Frankie Navarrete also went 2-for-4 with a double for the Bulldogs.
 
"I thought we played really well defensively, that is back-to-back error-free games," Dunn said. "Offensively, we could have been better, especially early, but we were able to do enough to get a good win."
 
Murray State's Brad Boegel (1-3) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up five runs, just three earned, on seven hits to take the loss for the Racers. Brock Downey and Andrew Bramley also saw time on the mound for Murray State.
 
The Racers were led at the plate by Matthew Johnson, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Tyler Lawrence was 2-for-3 with a double an RBI for the Racers.
 
Murray State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a run in the first inning and another run in the third inning. In the first inning Lawrence singled center field to drive in Johnson for the game's first run. In the third inning, Johnson singled up the middle to drive in Derek Yoder for a two-run MSU lead.
 
Samford put its first run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning when T.J. Dixon reached base on an infield single and later scored on a balk. MSU, however added a run in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Taylor Mathews to make the score 3-1.
 
The Bulldogs tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Heath Quinn singled to left field to lead off the inning. With one out, Lee homered to right field to knot the score at 3-3.
 
Samford took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Greene singled to lead off the inning and later scored on a wild pitch for a 4-3 Samford lead. Hunter Swilling later singled to drive in Navarrete for a 5-3 Bulldog advantage.
 
The Bulldogs pulled away with five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to make the score 10-3. With one out, Greene homered to left-center field for the inning's first run. Navarrete then doubled and later scored on an error. Edens then hit a three-run home run to right field for a seven-run Samford lead.
 
The teams will conclude their series with a game Sunday at 1 p.m. The game can be heard locally on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. The contest can also be viewed online via the SoCon Digital Network at www.socondigitalnetwork.com/samford. Live stats will also be available at www.samfordsports.com.