BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team opened the 2025 season with a doubleheader sweep of the Valparaiso Beacons Friday at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The Bulldogs won the first game, 4-2 and then took the second game, 14-4 in seven innings.
 
With the sweep, Samford is now 2-0 on the season. Valparaiso is now 0-2 with the losses.
 
"The guys did a great job," Samford head coach Tony David said. "It's a long day, first time out like it was. For the most part our guys just filled up the strike zone. We played our game, we really caught the ball there early and got some timely hits and played some small ball. In the second game, from the beginning, we just swung it really, really well and had some guys on the mound do well."
 
In game one for Samford, Gus Gandy went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Jake Souders drove in two runs, going 1-for-4 at the plate. Miller Riggins (1-0) did not allow a hit through the first 5.0 innings, and finished the game giving up just two runs on two hits and striking out five batters without allowing a walk through 5.0-plus innings. Joseph Lee picked up his first save of the season, tossing the final inning, allowing no hits and walking just one.
 
Samford plated the first run of the game in the first inning when Jeffrey Ince scored on a ground out by Jackson Harris for a 1-0 Samford lead. The Bulldogs pushed the lead to 3-0 in the third inning on an RBI each by Gandy and Souders.
 
In the top of the sixth inning, Valparaiso's Ryan Maka hit a two-run homer to cut the Samford lead to 3-2. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Souders grounded out to drive in Michael Gupton to make the final score 4-2.
 
In the second game for Samford, Gupton went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and three runs scored. Cade Carr had two hits and three RBI, while Parker McDonald had two hits, including a home run and two RBI. Souders hit his first collegiate home run, driving in three runs in the second game. Noah Berry (1-0) picked up the win on the mound, tossing 2.0 innings, allowing two runs on two hits.
 
Samford scored two runs in the first inning and six runs in the second inning to build an 8-1 lead. Each team scored a run in the third inning, Valparaiso scored two runs and Samford scored three runs in the fourth inning to make the score 12-4. Samford added two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and the game was called after the seventh inning with a 14-4 Samford win.
 
Samford and Valparaiso will wrap up their series with a single game Sunday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.








 
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