BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford baseball team earned the series win with an 8-3 victory over VMI in the second game of a three-game Southern Conference series Saturday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
With the win, Samford improved its season record to 16-17 overall and 4-4 in Southern Conference play. VMI fell to 24-10 overall and 2-6 in league play.
 
Samford pitcher Mason Blasche (2-5) turned in an impressive performance on the mound, tossing 7.0 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out five batters to earn the win for the Bulldogs. John Malone pitched the final 2.0 innings, giving up no runs on one hit.
 
"The results were a little tougher in that second inning, but he (Blasche) really threw well," Samford head coach Tony David said. "I don't know if they were three hit-and-runs, but it looked like it and they were not particularly well-hit balls, but they found holes. And he just did a really good job of not letting that get to him."
 
For Samford at the plate, Jake Souders went 2-for-5 with a home run and five RBI. Cade Carr, Trey Higgins and Luke Boykin also homered for the Bulldogs.
 
VMI was led at the plate by Grayson Fitzwater, who homered, going 1-for-4 with an RBI. Roberto Velasquez (2-3) pitched 1.2 innings, giving up four runs on two hits to take the loss on the mound for the Keydets.
 
VMI took an early lead with two runs in the top of the second inning. Samford, however, answered with four runs in the bottom of the second. Higgins and Boykin led the inning off with back-to-back solo home runs to knot the score at 2-2. Later in the inning, Souders singled up the middle with the bases loaded to drive in two runs and give Samford a 4-2 lead.
 
The Keydets scored a run in the top of the sixth inning to cut the Samford lead to 4-3. The Bulldogs then answered with four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Souders got the scoring started with a three-run home run to left-center to push the lead to 7-3. Carr followed that up with a solo home run to left-center field to make the final score 8-3.
 
The teams will conclude the series with a game Sunday at 1 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be seen live on ESPN+ and live stats will be available as well. For links to follow all of Samford's games this season, click on the following link: 2026 SCHEDULE.


 
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