BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team scored 13 runs on 14 hits on its way to a 13-2 win over in-state rival Troy Tuesday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
"I thought we did a good job tonight," Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. "I thought our pitchers threw well. They didn't play well defensively, but we were able to take advantage of it. So many times when teams gave us opportunities earlier this year, we didn't take advantage on the back end. Tonight I thought we did a good job of that."
 
Samford was led at the plate by Frankie Navarrete, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Austin Edens went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Richard Greene also homered for Samford in a 1-for-4 performance. T.J. Dixon, Alex Lee and Jared Watson had two hits each, with Watson driving in three runs for the Bulldogs.
 
Wyatt Burns (1-0) pitched 3.0 innings in relief, giving up no runs on four hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Burns struck out three batters and walked none. Tristan Widra, Devan Traglia, Mikel Belcher and Andres Gracia also pitched in the game for Samford.
 
For Troy at the plate, Clay Holcomb went 2-for-4 to lead the way. Logan Hill and Reid Long drove in a run each for the Trojans. Ben Tidwell (0-2) pitched 3.0 innings, surrendering four runs on six hits to take the loss on the mound for Troy.
 
Samford jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Edens doubles to drive in Heath Quinn with the game's first run. Watson later singled to drive in both Edens and Lee for a 3-0 Samford lead.
 
Troy came back with two runs in the top of the third inning to cut the Samford lead to 3-2. Long drove in the Trojans' first run with a sacrifice fly to drive in Brody Binder. The second run of the inning was scored on a sacrifice fly by Hill, scoring Holcomb to bring Troy to within one run of Samford.
 
The Bulldogs added a run in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 4-2. Lee singled to left field and later scored on a wild pitch for a two-run Samford lead.
 
Samford took control of the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Danny Rodriguez singled and Greene reached base on an error to start the inning. Navarrete then hit a three-run homer to left field for a 7-2 Samford lead.
 
The Bulldogs added five runs in the sixth inning to push their lead to 12-2. Greene homered to lead off the inning. Edens also homered in the inning, and Quinn and Watson drove in a run each for the Bulldogs. Dixon also scored on an error in the inning as Samford built a 10-run advantage.
 
Samford plated one final run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Navarrete singled to lead off the inning and later scored on a wild pitch to make the final score 13-2.
 
With the win, Samford improves to 18-17 on the season. Troy falls to 20-18 with the loss. The win was the fourth-straight for Samford, the longest winning streak of the season for the Bulldogs.
 
Samford will return to action Friday night when the Bulldogs open a three-game Southern Conference series at East Tennessee State. The teams are scheduled to play Friday at 5:05 p.m. (CST), Saturday at 1:05 p.m. and Sunday at 12:05 p.m.