Fantastic weather along with Samford softball's sweep of ETSU and baseball's series win over UNCG made for a picture perfect weekend on the Samford University campus.
 
For the second weekend in a row, Samford University softball pulled out the brooms in sweeping a SoCon opponent. Teamwork fueled this weekend's success for Samford softball.
 
From the long ball to quality pitching, ever member of the roster contributed to the team's success against ETSU. Callie Brister put up numbers worthy of consideration for SoCon Player of the Week going 7-for-11 during the week with three home runs, seven RBIs, four runs scored which also included a two home run effort Saturday against the Buccaneers.
 
The most promising aspect of the weekend was the continued improvement for both sophomore pitchers Grey Adams and Rebecca Leonard. Both Adams and Leonard followed up Tuesday's contest at Alabama State with clutch wins in Friday's doubleheader sweep of ETSU. Adams relieved Mollie Hanson in game one and shut down the Buccaneers offense while Leonard matched her career high with seven strikeouts in game two of the series.
 
The sweep sets up the Bulldogs in good position with the back half of conference play starting next Saturday at Western Carolina. Samford is percentage points behind Chattanooga for first place in the SoCon. Before we get to Saturday, another SEC opponent awaits in the Ole Miss Rebels as they pay a visit to Samford University on Wednesday.
 
This will be the second home game for Samford against SEC competition. Although the Rebels aren't in the class of Alabama, Auburn, Florida or LSU, they have seen significant improvement from a season ago under first year head coach Mike Smith.
 
Smith comes from McNeese State where he led the Cowgirls to Southland Conference regular season titles in 2013 and 2014. Smith also has an NAIA national title at California Baptist on his resume.
 
In Smith's first season in Oxford, Mississippi, Ole Miss has already matched their overall win total and exceeded their SEC win total from 2014. The Rebels have an SEC road sweep at Arkansas and a series win against Mississippi State this season.
 
Ole Miss has two hitters in the top 15 in the SEC in batting average in true freshman Elantra Cox and sophomore Miranda Strother. Both have a .404 batting average and are threats on the base paths. Cox is fourth in the SEC with 23 steals while Strother has 10 stolen bases.
 
Should be a good ball game Wednesday as our coverage on the SoCon Digital Network begins at 5:45 p.m. with first pitch at 6 p.m. Hope to see you there.
 
#RuffEm
 
James Hardy