BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University baseball team used timely hitting and strong pitching and defense to take a 6-2 win over ETSU in the first game of a three-game Southern Conference series Friday evening at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
 
Jacob Cravey (2-3) pitched 6.0 innings, giving up two runs on five hits, and striking out nine batters while allowing just one walk to earn the win for Samford. Alex Goff picked up his second save of the season, tossing the final 3.0 innings, giving up no runs on just two hits.
 
"Cravey was good again for us out there," Samford head coach Tony David said. "Any time you give a home run up to the lead off guy, that can shake you, but he followed that up with three-straight strikeouts to get out of the inning. He does a really good job of navigating through his walks, and today he had just one walk and nine strikeouts, which was an awesome job by him."
 
Will David led Samford offensively, going 3-for-3 with a home run, a double, one RBI and three runs scored. Stephen Klein went 2-for-4 at the plate, and Colton Ledbetter hit his team-leading 11^th home run of the season, going 1-for-4 at the plate.
 
For ETSU, Garret Wallace and Ashton King had two hits each. Tommy Barth homered for the Bucs, going 1-for-5. Zach Kirby (2-2) took the loss on the mound, tossing 3.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits.
 
ETSU got on the scoreboard first with a run in the top of the first inning. Barth led the game off with a solo home run to left field for a 1-0 ETSU lead.
 
The Bucs added to their lead in the fourth inning, plating one run to push their lead to 2-0. King doubled down the left-field line to drive in Wallace for a two-run ETSU lead.
 
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Samford took the lead, plating three runs to take a 3-2 advantage. Ledbetter led the inning off with a solo home run for Samford's first run of the game. Garrett Staton later singled through the left side of the infield to drive in David and Klein to give Samford the lead.
 
The Bulldogs added to their lead with a run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Maurice Hampton Jr. doubled down the left-field line to drive in Klein for a 4-2 Samford lead.
 
Samford's David led the bottom of the sixth inning off with a home run to left-center field to make the score 5-2. In the eighth inning, David scored from third base on a sacrifice fly by Staton for a 6-2 Samford lead.
 
Samford and ETSU will continue their series with a game Saturday afternoon. The first pitch is set for 2 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.




 
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