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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team tallied its third victory of the young 2016 season by 10 runs or more Sunday as the Bulldogs earned a 12-2 win over the Butler Bulldogs in the fourth-and-final game of this weekend's series held at Joe Lee Griffin Field. With Sunday's triumph, Samford secured the four-game sweep and outscored Butler in the series by a total of 46-7.
 
"We swung the bats well all weekend long and really got some timely hits as well," said Samford head coach Casey Dunn. "Any time you put up that many runs, the little things can tend to get lost, but in a lot of our big innings were very good two-strike at-bats and two-out hitting performances. We definitely had a lot of positives this weekend."
 
Samford (4-0) scored eight runs in the first two innings of Sunday's ballgame and quickly mounted a decisive 8-0 advantage over Butler (0-4). The Bulldogs' true freshman pitcher Connor Radcliff notched his first career start and earned the win in impressive fashion. Radcliff hurled five innings for Samford and only allowed two runs on four hits.
 
"I thought our pitching staff was great and we didn't walk many guys," Dunn said. "Today, we only had a total of two walks and I was really encouraged by how of our young pitchers handled their chances this weekend. I was also impressed with how all of our sophomore pitchers this week really showed some great progress. They looked better this weekend than they did at any time last year."
 
Offensively, the Bulldogs were powered by Austin Edens, T.J. Dixon, Richard Greene, Alex Lee, Danny Rodriguez and Frankie Navarrete, as Samford finished with 12 runs on 17 hits. The Bulldogs are averaging 16.3 hits per game this season.
 
All of the aforementioned players tallied at least two hits for Samford on Sunday. Edens, the Bulldogs' explosive Preseason All-American from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, paced the squad with a 4-for-5 performance at the plate. He also drove in three runs, scored a pair and sent a deep, two-run homer over the left-field fence in the seventh inning.
 
Samford's T.J. Dixon turned in a game-high four RBI and notched a 3-for-5 outing at the plate. Most of his damage was done during the Bulldogs' big second inning when he cleared the bases on a triple down the right-field line. Additionally, Dixon scored a run and earned his team-high fourth stolen base of the season.
 
Greene, Samford's senior catcher, finished 3-for-4 with a home run, while Lee also powered a deep homer as he turned in a 2-for-5 performance at the dish. The Bulldogs' Rodriguez and Navarrete both added two-hit outings Sunday.
 
"This was a very exciting weekend for us," said Greene. "We knew coming into this season that we had a great group of hitters, but that our pitching staff might be a question mark. Well, now we know how talented this staff is as well, and it was exciting to see these young guys come out and pitch without much fear. They filled the zone and also showed that they have a great variety of pitches."
 
Following Radcliff's strong start on the mound, Samford sophomore Caleb Maggio came on in the sixth inning and pitched three impressive innings in relief. The Bulldogs' talented native of Apopka, Florida, only allowed three hits and finished with three strikeouts.
 
True freshmen Jack Rude and Connor Burns both split time in the ninth inning and closed the door on Butler to secure Samford's 12-2 win.
 
"(Assistant coach) Tyler (Shrout) has done a great job with this staff and you can really see them getting better all the time," said Dunn.
 
In the Bulldogs' four-game sweep to open the season, Samford turned in a phenomenal .422 batting average, as well as a remarkable 1.25 earned run average.
 
The Samford University baseball team will next be in action Thursday at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin another four-game, early-season home series against the BYU Cougars. Samford and BYU will play a doubleheader Friday and then close out the set Saturday at noon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
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