JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Samford baseball team swept a doubleheader at East Tennessee State Saturday afternoon at Thomas Stadium. The Bulldogs won the first game, 8-4, and then took game two by a score of 7-4.
With the wins, Samford sweeps the three-game Southern Conference series from ETSU. Samford has now won seven-straight games and the Bulldogs are 21-17 overall and 9-3 in SoCon play. ETSU drops to 14-24 overall and 3-9 in league contests.
"These were three great wins," Samford head coach
Casey Dunn said of the series sweep. "We had three good jobs offensively by our guys, three quality starts by the pitching staff and a solid bullpen. That's a pretty good recipe for success."
In game one of the doubleheader, Samford was led offensively by
Austin Edens, going 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.
T.J. Dixon,
Jared Watson and
Danny Rodriguez had two hits each for Samford.
Richard Greene also homered in the win for Samford, going 1-for-5 with two RBI.
Jared Brasher (3-2) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up two runs on four hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford.
Andres Gracia tossed the final 2.0 innings, allowing no hits to pick up the save.
For ETSU in the first game, Chris Cook hit a home run, going 1-for-5 in the game. Jeremy Taylor, Trey York and Aaron Maher had two hits each for the Bucs. Jimmy Nesselt (4-5) pitched 6.0 innings, giving up five runs on 11 hits to take the loss on the mound for the Bucs.
Samford took the early lead, plating two runs in the top of the first inning in game one. East Tennessee State came back with one run in the bottom of the inning to cut Samford's lead to 2-1.
The Bulldogs scored two runs in the fifth inning and one in the sixth to stretch their lead to 5-1. ETSU then plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to close to within one run at 5-4.
Samford extended its lead back to two runs with a run in the top of the seventh inning at 6-4. The Bulldogs plated the game's final two runs in the top of the eighth inning to make the final score 8-4.
For Samford in the second game,
Heath Quinn went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Edens hit another home run, going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Edens now has 10 homers on the season. Dixon went 2-for-5 in the second game for the Bulldogs.
Parker Curry (6-3) pitched 8.0 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Curry struck out five batters and allowed just one walk. Gracia picked up his eighth save of the season and second of the day, tossing the final inning, allowing just one hit. Gracia extended his Samford career saves record to 25.
ETSU was led in game two by Kevin Phillips, going 3-for-4 at the plate. Taylor and Jordan Sanford had two hits and an RBI each for the Bucs. Griffin Krieg (1-5) tossed 7.0 innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits to take the loss on the mound for ETSU.
Samford once again jumped out to an early lead, plating three runs in the top of the first inning. The Bulldogs added three more runs in the second inning to push their lead to 6-0.
East Tennessee State plated four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to close to within two runs at 6-4. Samford, however, added a run in the top of the seventh inning to make the final score 7-4.
Samford will return to action on Tuesday, April 21, when the Bulldogs play host to Alabama State. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field.
