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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University baseball team scored five early runs and didn't allow a single hit until the eighth inning as the Bulldogs tallied an 8-5 victory over the Jacksonville University Dolphins in the opening matchup of a three-game set being held at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
"I thought this was a good win for us tonight, but there are still a lot of things that we can improve on and get better at this weekend," said Samford head coach Casey Dunn. "Overall, we definitely had more positives tonight than we did negatives and it's always good to win the first game of a big three-game series."
 
With Friday's triumph, Samford (11-7) continued its impressive play at home this season. The Bulldogs own an 8-3 record when playing at Joe Lee Griffin Field and have been victorious in three straight games held in Birmingham.
 
Samford also tallied its second win in a row for the first time since Feb. 21, when the Bulldogs put together back-to-back victories against Butler, 4-3, and 12-2.
 
Jacksonville (11-5) moved to 2-2 on the road this season and suffered only its second loss to Samford since the Bulldogs' Dunn became head coach of the program in 2004. The Dolphins are now 6-2 against Samford during the Dunn Era.
 
The Bulldogs received a strong pitching effort by starter Jared Brasher (2-3) on Friday. Brasher, Samford's hard-throwing junior from Pell City, didn't allow a single hit in four innings of action, but did walk four Dolphins en route to an earned run in the top of the fifth inning. Brasher struck out six Jacksonville players and improved his earned runs average on the season to 2.61.
 
"I thought Jared's (Brasher) stuff was very good out there," Dunn said. "When he throws the ball over the plate, he has some really good numbers. Typically, he doesn't allow many hits at all and when he's limiting his free passes, he's a very tough pitcher to beat. This was an encouraging game to see him take a step forward and build some confidence, especially with conference play beginning next week."
 
Samford jumped out early on the Dolphins' starting pitcher Michael Baumann with momentous home runs from Heath Quinn and Alex Lee in the first and second innings, respectively.
 
Quinn powered his nation-leading 10^th home run of the season in the first inning, while Lee notched his third round-tripper of the year in the second.
 
Lee, the Bulldogs' talented left-handed slugger from Heflin, finished a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate, scored three runs and tallied an RBI. He's now batting .348 on the season. Quinn tallied a 2-for-4 outing at the dish Friday and upped his average on the year to a team-leading .373.
 
Samford pitchers Wyatt Burns and Jake Greer both came on in relief Friday and turned in quality outings to keep Jacksonville's talented offensive attack at bay.
 
Heading into the top of the eighth inning, the Bulldogs owned an 8-1 advantage and hadn't allowed single hit in the game. Burns struck out the side in the fifth inning, while Greer nearly closed out a four-inning save, before giving way to Parker Curry in the top of the ninth.
 
Greer finished with five strikeouts in the contest, but gave up a big blow to the Dolphins' star Austin Hays in the ninth. Hays finished 2-for-5 in the game with three RBI, one run scored and a home run to left field.
 
Hays proved to be the only multi-hit performer for Jacksonville on Friday and broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff single in the top of the eighth.
 
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Samford's Curry came in to close the door on the Dolphins for his second save of the season. The Bulldogs' senior native of Pelham struck out Connor Stephens with runners on first and second to secure the victory.
 
Lee and Quinn helped pace Samford's offensive attack, while Richard Greene registered a 2-for-3 outing on his 22^nd birthday. The also scored a pair of runs in the Bulldogs' win.
 
Samford's Jared Watson, Danny Rodriguez and Frankie Navarrete all tallied base hits in the game. Rodriguez scored a run and added an RBI, while Navarrete powered his first home run of the season and notched a trio of runs batted in.
 
Samford's three-game home series against Jacksonville University will resume Saturday at 2 p.m. (CDT) with the second contest of the weekend to be held at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
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