CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Samford baseball team completed its sweep of The Citadel with a 12-4 win Sunday afternoon at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park.
 
With the win, Samford improved its record to 21-10 overall and 6-0 in Southern Conference play. The Citadel fell to 15-15 overall and 0-9 in league action.
 
"This win finished off a great weekend for our guys," Samford head coach Tony David said. "The score of today's game doesn't tell the story. That was a real battle. We did a great job after a tough start of responding."
 
Samford was led in the win by Hayden Perry, going 4-for-5 with three doubles and two RBI. Garrett Staton went 3-for-5 with a home run and five RBI. Jackson Harris went 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Andrew Bennett and Aaron Walton had two hits and an RBI each.
 
"After they went up 4-0, Jackson got a first pitch single and Staton drilled a home run and everything instantly felt different," David said. "In a tight game in the middle innings, we really executed well. We dropped down some really good bunts and played some small ball. Overall, though, we had a lot of extra base hits and really drove the ball."
 
Evan Steckmesser (2-0) pitched 3.0 innings in relief, allowing no runs on one hit to earn the win on the mound for Samford. Alex Flood, Jake Holifield and Carson Lore also saw time on the mound for Samford.
 
"Obviously, the relief effort was super human," David said. "Jake and Steck came in when we were down and in tight games and just put up zeros. Lore finished us off after we put up six runs with two outs in the eighth inning."
 
The Citadel was led by Wells Sykes, going 3-for-4 at the plate. Travis Lott and Anthony Hausner drove in a run each for The Citadel. George Derrick Floyd (1-3) pitched 2.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits to take the loss for The Citadel.
 
The Citadel jumped out to an early lead. The homestanding Bulldogs plated two runs in the first inning and two more in the second inning for a 4-0 advantage.
 
Samford plated three runs in the third inning and one more in the fourth inning to tie the score at 4-4. In the third inning, Staton hit a two-run home run to left field and Bennett had an RBI double to bring Samford to within one run. In the fourth inning, Perry scored on a sacrifice fly by Staton to bring the teams back even.
 
Samford took the lead for good with two runs in the top of the sixth inning. Harris singled up the middle to drive in Perry for the first run of the inning. Walton later scored when Garrett Howe grounded into a double play for a 6-4 Samford lead.
 
Samford took complete control of the game by plating six runs in the top of the eighth inning. John Anderson scored the first run of the inning when Cade Carr was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Perry then drove in two runs with a single, Walton had an RBI single and Staton drove in the final two runs with a single to make the final score 12-4.
 
Samford will play host to the Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday, April 9. The game is set for a 6:30 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
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