BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University baseball team opened its Southern Conference series with ETSU with a 13-7 victory Thursday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
With the win, Samford improved its record to 14-14 overall and 2-2 in Southern Conference play. ETSU fell to 19-8 overall and 4-3 in league action.
 
For Samford at the plate, Jake Souders went 3-for-5 with a double, a triple and one RBI. Pierce Dutton went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Trey Higgins drove in three runs, going 1-for-2 with three walks. Jeffrey Ince, Cade Carr, Luke Boykin and Parker McDonald had an RBI each for the Bulldogs. Samford batters drew 18 walks from the ETSU pitchers during the game.
 
Joseph Lee started the game on the mound for Samford, pitching 4.2 innings, giving up four runs on four hits and tying a career high with eight strikeouts. John Whitney (1-0) pitched an inning, allowing three runs on two hits to earn the win on the mound for Samford. John Malone and Drew Druckenmiller also saw time on the mound for Samford. The Bulldog pitchers recorded 16 strikeouts of ETSU batters.
 
"That was not a thing of beauty," Samford head coach Tony David said. "We've been playing at a high level for a while and today was just kind of a different game. We got a lot of help with walks, but there was a lot of battling, full counts and fighting off pitches, 10 or 11 pitch at bats where we walked that kind of set the table."
 
For ETSU, Henry Ferguson went 3-for-5 with three RBI. Tristan Curless and Jamie Palmese had two hits and an RBI each. Stratton Scott (2-2) took the loss on the mound for ETSU, tossing 1.0 inning, giving up five runs on three hits. Scott was one of eight pitchers used by the Bucs.
 
Samford jumped on top first with six runs in the bottom of the second inning. Dutton singled up the middle for the game's first run. Ince then walked with the bases loaded for a 2-0 Samford lead. Gus Gandy then scored on a wild pitch to make the score 3-0. Souders then walked with the bases loaded for a 4-0 lead. Ince then scored when Higgins reached base on a fielder's choice to make the score 5-0. McDonald then walked with the bases loaded for a 6-0 Samford lead.
 
After ETSU plated its first run in the top of the third inning, Samford's Higgins singled to drive in Dutton in the bottom of the third to make the score 7-1. In the top of the fifth inning, the Bucs plated three runs to cut the lead to 7-4. In the bottom of the fifth, Souders tripled and then scored on an ETSU error to make the score 8-4.
 
ETSU came back with three runs in the top of the sixth inning to close to within one run at 8-7. Samford answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to push the lead to 11-7. Dutton singled to drive in the first run of the inning. Carr later walked with the bases loaded, and Higgins hit a sacrifice fly for the inning's final run.
 
The Bulldogs added two final runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Higgins walked with the bases loaded for the first run of the inning. Boykin hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in Souders to make the final score 13-7.
 
The teams will continue the series with a game Friday at 5 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The game can be seen live on ESPN+ and live stats will also be available. For links to follow all of Samford's games this season, click on the following link: 2026 SCHEDULE.


 
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