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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team suffered its first loss of the 2016 season Thursday as the Bulldogs dropped a 7-1 decision to the BYU Cougars in the opening contest of a four-game series being held at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
In the loss, Samford (4-1) allowed an opponent to score more than three runs for the first time this season. Last week, the Bulldogs rolled their way to a four-game sweep of Butler and tallied victories of 14-1, 16-1, 4-3 and 12-2.
 
Samford and BYU (5-0) will resume play in this week's series Friday at 2 p.m., as the teams begin play in a doubleheader. The finale of the four-game set is scheduled to be held Saturday at noon.
 
The Cougars maintained their winning ways Thursday. Last week, BYU powered itself to a head-turning four-game sweep of Saint Louis and outscored the Billikens, 48-17.
 
Michael Rucker (2-0), the Cougars' opening night starter, hurled seven complete innings of one-run ball and only allowed four hits en route to his second win of the season. BYU's talented junior also struck out seven Bulldogs and lowered his earned run average on the season to 0.90.
 
Samford entered Thursday's game as the top hitting team in the nation with a batting average of .422.
 
"Rucker had really good command of three pitches today and did a really good job of pitching to the conditions," said Samford head coach Casey Dunn. "With the wind blowing straight in from right field, he did a great job of keeping his pitches on the right side of the plate. He just lived on that side of the plate and we never really made an adjustment. We were kind of stubborn to make that commitment. He was a very good pitcher and he was definitely the best arm that we've seen so far this season."
 
The Bulldogs' Jared Brasher (1-1) was saddled with the loss Thursday, despite not allowing an earned run. Brasher, Samford's talented junior hurler from Pell City, only gave up two hits in four innings, but BYU capitalized on four unearned runs in the top of the fourth inning to gain a decisive lead.
 
After quickly retiring the first two hitters of the fourth frame, Brasher got Bronson Larsen to ground out neatly to third baseman Hunter Swilling, but Swilling's throw over to first base was dropped by Alex Lee.
 
The error extended the fourth inning and Brasher walked the next two hitters to load the bases.
 
With a 2-1 count, the Cougars' Brennon Anderson powered his second home run of the season barely over the left-field wall and past the outstretched glove of Samford outfielder Rob Perteet. Anderson's grand slam lifted BYU to its 4-1 lead.
 
"I thought that Jared threw the ball well," Dunn said. "We made a big error there and the next thing you know, there's four straight balls, two straight walks and then a home run. For three and two-thirds innings, I thought he really threw well again. We made a defensive mistake and he allowed it to affect him. That's something that we need to do better of as a team."
 
Samford led, 1-0, for a half inning after Frankie Navarrete scored on a passed ball. After reaching base on a fielder's choice with nobody out, Navarrete moved over to third base when T.J. Dixon was hit by a pitch and Hunter Swilling reached on a fielder's choice. The run scored was Navarrete's sixth of the season.
 
In the top of the seventh inning, BYU added three more runs to make the final score, 7-1.
 
Heading into Thursday's contest, Samford was averaging 11.5 runs per outing, as well as 16.3 hits per game.
 
The Bulldogs' Austin Edens and Danny Rodriguez both posted solid performances at the plate Thursday. Edens went 2-for-4 from the cleanup spot and increased his batting average on the season to .480, while Rodriguez turned in a 2-for-3 outing at the dish and is now hitting .389 in 2016.
 
Samford's four-game home series against BYU will resume Saturday at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs and Cougars begin a doubleheader to be held at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
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