BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford second baseman John Anderson homered twice to lead the Bulldog baseball team to a 9-6 win over ETSU in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference series Friday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
With the win, Samford improved its season record to 23-10 overall and 7-0 in Southern Conference play. ETSU fell to 20-11 overall and 5-5 in league play.
 
"This was a good job by our guys," Samford head coach Tony David said. "We just do a really good job of answering when teams score. It's a game of momentum and we just did a really good job there. (Michael) Ross really battled like crazy for us on the mound."
 
Anderson went 2-for-4 with two home runs and four RBI to lead Samford at the plate. Aaron Walton also homered for the Bulldogs, going 3-for-4 with two RBI. Garrett Staton drove in two runs, going 1-for-3 at the plate.
 
"I've been here a long time and we've been fortunate enough to have a lot of great hitters, and this particular team has a lot of really good hitters," David said. "But I don't know if we've had many, if any, that can just flat-out hit like John can. He had another big night for us with two big blasts. He does such a good job of understanding what pitchers are trying to do."
 
Michael Ross (8-0) pitched 5.2 innings, giving up four runs, just three earned, on eight hits and striking out six batters to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Evan Steckmesser and Carson Lore split the final 3.1 innings to close out the win for the Bulldogs.
 
For ETSU, Cameron Sisneros homered and drove in one run. Tommy Barth went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Jackson Green drove in two runs for the Bucs. Jace Hyde (3-3) pitched 4.0 innings in relief, allowing five runs on five hits to take the loss for ETSU.
 
ETSU got on the scoreboard first with a run in the top of the third inning, but Samford answered in the bottom of the frame when Walton scored on a sacrifice fly by Staton to knot the score at 1-1. The Bucs plated two runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 3-1 lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Anderson hit a solo home run and John Whitney later had an RBI single to tie the game again at 3-3.
 
After ETSU scored a run in the top of the fifth inning to take a 4-3 lead, Samford plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and three more in the sixth to take a 9-4 lead. In the fifth inning, Anderson hit a three-run home run to left-center field to give Samford the lead for good at 6-4. In the sixth inning, Walton hit a two-run homer and Staton later doubled to drive in a run for a 9-4 Samford lead.
 
ETSU plated a run in the seventh inning and another in the ninth inning to make the final score 9-6.
 
The teams will continue their series with a game Saturday at 2 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be seen live online via ESPN+. Fans can also follow the game online via live stats. For links to follow all of Samford's games this season, click on the following link: BASEBALL SCHEDULE.
 
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