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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team used excellent pitching from Jared Brasher, Parker Curry and Jake Greer, as well as a 10-run, nine-hit sixth inning Friday to defeat the Butler Bulldogs, 14-1, in the 2016 season opener held in front of 811 boisterous fans at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
"Jared Brasher was really good tonight and he showed his maturity by doing a lot of things out there that he wouldn't have done last season," said Samford head coach Casey Dunn. "In the fifth inning, he had two 3-0 counts and was able to battle back to get those guys and to strike out the side. That was the most encouraging thing that I saw tonight and it's huge to see those signs of maturity from him."
 
Samford (1-0) received five innings of shutout pitching from Brasher, who only allowed two hits, while striking out eight. The Bulldogs' junior fire-baller from Pell City limited Butler (0-1) to four baserunners and picked up his first victory of the 2016 campaign.
 
Neither team was able to break through offensively until the fourth inning when Samford's senior shortstop Danny Rodriguez drove in Austin Edens from third base with a sacrifice fly. The Bulldogs' run helped the squad maintain a 1-0 advantage into the epic sixth-inning scoring barrage occurred.
 
With Butler starter Jeff Schank still on the mound to start the sixth frame, Samford's first 11 batters reached base safely as the Bulldogs eventually scored 10 runs on 11 hits and sent 16 hitters to the plate.
 
Edens, Samford's sophomore Preseason All-American from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, doubled and singled in the sixth inning alone and finished Friday's contest hitting 3-for-5 with three RBI and a trio of runs scored. The Bulldogs' Heath Quinn also went 2-for-2 in the inning with a single to left field and a massive homer deep over the left-field fence.
 
Quinn, another one of Samford's three Preseason All-Americans, tallied a 4-for-5 performance on the night. He also drove in two runs and scored three.
 
"They were throwing us a lot of breaking balls early in the count, so we just had to be more patient at the plate and let the ball travel a little more," said Quinn. "That was the approach that we took and once we were able to get to the bullpen, that's always a good thing. Everybody hit well today and it was a great start to the season."
 
The Bulldogs' Hunter Swilling and Edens both homered in the seventh inning, as they proved to be two of five Samford players to turn in multiple-hit performances Friday.
 
"We had a great night all around and it was a resilient effort in all facets of the game," Dunn said. "This was a pretty tough opening-day matchup for us, but I was pleased with our guys hanging in there."
 
Curry, the Bulldogs' senior pitcher from Pelham, hurled a perfect sixth inning in relief, while striking out two of the three batters he faced. Greer tallied his first save of the season by pitching three full innings to close out the victory. He finished with four strikeouts, only allowed three hits and gave up just one earned run.
 
"We also played an error-free game tonight and that's big," Dunn said. "We'll take that every time and I feel good about it. We are fully encouraged by the way that we played and we were able to break through offensively against a really tough pitcher. Alex Lee's at-bat in the sixth inning was unbelievable. He had a 12-pitch at-bat with two strikes and was able to hit a huge double into the gap."
 
Lee, Samford's talented senior first baseman from Heflin, finished 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI, and played a huge role in the Bulldogs' explosive sixth inning.
 
The Samford University baseball team will next be in action Saturday at 1 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue play in their four-game weekend series against Butler with a doubleheader to be played at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
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