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CULLOWHEE, N.C. -- With two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the first inning Friday, Western Carolina took advantage of three walks to score six runs on four hits en route to a 10-5 home victory against the Samford University baseball team in the opening game of a key Southern Conference series being held at WCU's Childress Field at Hennon Stadium.
 
"We had a lot of bad at-bats today," said Samford head coach Casey Dunn. "We had a lot of flat-out non-competitive give-up swings and a lot of non-tough at-bats. When Colton (Davis) came into the game, we had the bases loaded and he got us to chase to close out the inning. He finished with six strikeouts and only faced seven batters and four of the six were on swings out of the zone. It was not a good night for us."
 
Samford (19-15, 5-5 SoCon) struck out 13 times in Friday's loss as the Bulldogs dropped to 5-8 when playing on the road this season. Samford finished the contest with eight hits, but Western Carolina (18-14, 9-1 SoCon) tallied 14 in the victory.
 
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Heath Quinn rapped a two-out double and then Austin Edens powered a deep opposite-field home run to right field. Edens' homer proved to be his first of two on the evening as he upped his season total to 10 on the season.
 
Just a sophomore, Samford's Edens has already compiled 26 home runs in his young, up-and-coming career.
 
"Austin put two really good swings on it tonight, but other than that we really don't have too many positives to talk about," Dunn said. "We gave up 14 hits, but they were 14 singles against a very tough lineup. We easily could have avoided a lot of those runs if we don't give up so many walks, especially at the wrong times. It just wasn't good baseball tonight and hopefully we get to playing good ball at some point."
 
Edens, Quinn and Alex Lee all finished with two hits apiece Friday as the middle of the Bulldogs' lineup accounted for six of the team's eight hits. Edens turned in a 2-for-5 outing with three RBI and two runs scored, while Quinn finished 2-for-5 at the plate with two runs as well. Lee, Samford's senior first baseman from Pell City, Alabama, also went 2-for-5 at the dish with an RBI.
 
The Bulldogs' remaining two hits were achieved by Richard Greene and Frankie Navarrete.
 
Following Samford's two-out rally in the first inning to take a 2-0 lead, Western Carolina posted a two-out rally of its own with six runs crossing the plate. The Catamounts sent 10 batters to the plate and accumulated four hits in the frame, all of which were singles.
 
Western Carolina's six-run inning gave the Catamounts a 6-2 lead and helped starter Brendan Nail (2-4) notch his second victory of the season.
 
Samford's Jared Brasher (2-4) was tagged with the loss as he completed one inning Friday. The Bulldogs sent six pitchers to the hill as Tanner Cunningham, Tristan Widra, Kyle Stuart, Caleb Maggio and Cody Shelton all saw action.
 
Widra hurled 3.1 innings of baseball and struck out two Catamounts in the contest. Samford's Maggio also notched a pair of strikeouts in 1.1 innings of mound time.
 
"I thought a couple of our bullpen guys came in and did a nice job tonight," Dunn said. "They pitched well and I thought we defended the ball well on a very tough surface to play on. Unfortunately, that's where all of the positives end for our play tonight.
 
Western Carolina added runs in both the second and third innings to increase its lead to 8-3. The Catamounts later tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the six inning and held a 10-3 lead heading into the seventh.
 
Catcher Danny Bermudez paced Western Carolina with a 3-for-4 outing at the plate, while Matt Smith, Kramer Ferrell and J.D. Long all posted multi-hit performances.
 
Samford scored a run in the seventh inning as Lee singled to left-center field to score Quinn from second base. The Bulldogs' fifth run of the game occurred in the top of the ninth inning as Edens blasted his 10^th home run of the season over the wall in right field.
 
With Western Carolina's win, the Catamounts garnered a slight 13-12 advantage in the all-time series between the teams.
 
This weekend's series will resume Saturday at 1 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs and Catamounts square off in the second matchup of the three-game set being held at Childress Field at Hennon Stadium.
 
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