Birmingham, Ala. - The Eastern Kentucky baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Samford by downing the Bulldogs 14-0 on Sunday at Joe Lee Griffin Field. The Colonels (15-21, 7-7 Ohio Valley Conference) moved to .500 in league play after junior Nick Barte and senior Eric Anthrop combined for EKU's third shutout of the season.
Barte (1-2) threw 7.0 scoreless innings with six strikeouts to pick up his first victory of the year. Anthrop went the final 2.0 frames and allowed just one hit to secure the win for Eastern.
This marks the first OVC sweep of the season for the Colonels, who allowed just seven runs to the Bulldogs (13-26, 6-9) over the course of the three-game series.
The Colonels racked up 17 hits in the win, led by a 4-for-6 effort from junior Brett Bolger, who along with seniors Bryan Stevenson and Will Whisenant accounted for 11 of the team's 14 runs. Stevenson and Bolger both scored four runs, while Whisenant crossed the plate three times and went 3-for-5 on the day.
Sophomore Tony Wells added three hits and three RBI to Eastern's cause, while junior Chris O'Dell led all players with four runs batted in.
EKU plated two runs in the top of the first thanks to a two-run single from O'Dell (scoring Whisenant and Stevenson). After two scoreless frames, senior Adam Visnic made it a 3-0 contest with his first home run of the year. Wells drove in a pair of runs in the fifth to help Eastern extend its lead to 6-0.
RBI doubles from Stevenson and O'Dell increased the Colonels lead to 8-0 in the seventh. With the game already well in hand, the Colonels tacked on five more runs in the eighth to go up 13-0. Bolger got things going with a two-run triple to score freshmen Lucas Waters and Joe Oliver. Whisenant drove in Bolger with a RBI double, then O'Dell brought the score to 12-0 with a sacrifice fly. Wells closed out EKU's rally with a RBI base knock.
Bolger closed out Eastern's scoring in the ninth when he crossed the plate off a Samford error, one of four miscues by the Bulldogs in the loss.
EKU returns to action on Tuesday when it welcomes Georgetown College to Turkey Hughes Field at 3 p.m.
