BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford baseball team swept a doubleheader from Charleston Southern Saturday at Joe Lee Griffin Field. Samford took the first game, 7-2, and then won the second contest by a score of 14-3.
 
With the sweep, Samford improved its record to 10-4. Charleston Southern now has a record of 6-9.
 
"This was a great job by our guys all the way around, on and off the field, here on spring break, running the score board, pitch clock and playing well on both ends of the doubleheader," Samford head coach Tony David said.
 
In game one for Samford, Lucas Steele went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBI. Josh Rodriguez homered and drove in two runs for the Bulldogs. Michael Ross (3-0) pitched 6.0 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, and striking out nine batters without allowing a walk to earn the win on the mound for Samford.
 
"Ross was electric again in game one on the mound and is the tone setter for us there," David said. "I am really happy with the way we competed on the mound and at the plate. It's rare to go that long between games in the season, after rainouts on Tuesday and Friday. We jumped on their really good arm to start and really never stopped swinging it."
 
For Charleston Southern in game one, Christian Bauman and Alex Urlaub drove in a run each. Evan Truitt (2-1) tossed 5.0 innings, giving up seven runs on seven hits to take the loss for the Bucs.
 
"Defensively, we made a bunch of really good plays throughout the day in some critical situations," David said. "It's a good weekend already, and we have a chance to make it a great one tomorrow."
 
Samford exploded for five runs in the bottom of the first inning of game one to take an early 5-0 lead. Rodriguez hit a two-run home run and John Anderson, Angelo Prieto and Andrew Bennett drove in a run each for a five-run Bulldog advantage.
 
After Charleston Southern plated two runs in the top of the fourth inning, Samford added a run in the bottom of the inning when Garrett Howe scored on a ground out by Steele to make the score 6-2. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Blake Bortak scored on a wild pitch for a 7-2 Samford lead.
 
Samford was led in game two by Anderson, going 2-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI. Prieto was 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Brooks Rice (3-1) pitched 5.0 innings, allowing two runs on five hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford.
 
For CSU in the second game, Urlaub and Peter Werth both homered. Brett Gastman (0-2) took the loss for the Bucs, surrendering six runs on five hits over 2.0 innings of work.
 
The Bulldogs plated a run in the first inning when Garrett Staton scored when Anderson reached base on an error to give Samford an early 1-0 lead. CSU took the lead with two runs in the top of the second inning. Samford knotted the score at 2-2 when Rodriguez scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the second inning.
 
Samford took control of the game with four runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth inning. In the third, Steele, Rodriguez, Andrew Bennett and Cullen Horowicz drove in a run each. In the fourth inning, Anderson hit a two-run home run to left field to give Samford an 8-2 advantage.
 
In the top of the sixth inning, CSU's Werth hit a home run to cut the lead to 8-3. Samford, however, plated four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to push the lead to 12-3. Prieto hit a three-run home run, and Rodriguez hit an RBI single for a nine-run Samford lead.
 
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Anderson hit a two-run home run to left-center field for a 14-3 Samford advantage.
 
Samford and Charleston Southern will conclude their series with a single game Sunday. The first pitch is set for 1 p.m. (CT) at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
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