BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University baseball team remained unbeaten with a 7-3 win over in-state rival Jacksonville State Tuesday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
With the win, Samford improved to 4-0 on the season. Jacksonville State fell to 2-2 with the loss.
 
"Overall, it was good," Samford head coach Tony David said. "I think they've got a good team, it was a tight game. It was the kind of game, in a tight game, where we were able to get a lot of guys in situationally. We moved a lot of guys around and for the most part it all worked out well."
 
Samford was led in the win by Garrett Howe, going 3-for-5 with a double, a home run and one RBI. John Anderson went 2-for-3 with a double, a home run and two RBI. Garrett Staton also homered and drove in two runs for the Bulldogs. Cullen Horowicz also had two hits for Samford.
 
Evan Steckmesser (1-0) earned the win on the mound for Samford, pitching 1.0 hitless inning in relief. Carson Lore picked up his first save of the season, tossing the final 2.0 innings, allowing just one hit. John Malone, Heath Clevenger and Jake Holifield also saw time on the mound for the Bulldogs.
 
For JSU, Brennen Norton went 2-for-5 with a home run and one RBI. Ryan Vermillion (0-1) took the loss on the mound for the Gamecocks, tossing 1.0 inning, giving up two runs on two hits.
 
Jacksonville State struck first when Norton homered to left-center field in the top of the first inning for a 1-0 Gamecock lead. Samford knotted the score at 1-1 when Andrew Bennett scored on an infield single by Aaron Walton in the bottom of the second inning. After Jacksonville State took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third, Samford again tied the score in the bottom of the third when Josh Rodriguez doubled down the left-field line to drive in Anderson to make the score 2-2.
 
The Gamecocks took a 3-2 lead with a run in the top of the fifth inning, but Samford answered again in the bottom of the fifth when Anderson homered to center field to knot the score again at 3-3.
 
Samford took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Matthew Strand scored on a ground out by Staton for the first run, and then Walton scored on an error for a 5-3 Samford lead. The Bulldogs put the final two runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth on solo home runs by Staton and Howe to make the final score 7-3.
 
Samford will play a three-game series at UCF this weekend. The teams are set to play Friday at 5 p.m. (CT), Saturday at 5 p.m. (CT) and Sunday at 12 p.m. (CT).




 
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