BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (February 25, 2016)—Key pitching and home runs, including a grand slam, lifted undefeated BYU to a 7-1 victory over Samford University on Thursday.

Brennon Anderson belted a 2-1 fastball barely over the leftfield wall for a grand slam in the fourth to give BYU, 5-0, a 4-1 lead over previously unbeaten Bulldogs, now 4-1.

The undefeated start by BYU baseball ties previous 5-0 seasons by the Cougars in 1998, 1988 and 1984.

Junior right-hander Mike Rucker struck out a Bulldog batter in each of his seven innings, throwing 98 pitches and surrendering four hits to earn his second victory of the season. Rucker and freshman reliever Bo Burrup, a lefty, retired the side in order in the final three innings.

The Mississippi-born Rucker had more friends than his brother-in-law visiting the game as he closed the fourth inning with a 6-4-3 double play.

“Mike threw a gem today,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “He was sharp with all three pitches and as always brought that ‘bulldog’ mentality.

In Thursday’s opener of the four-game series, a lead-off double by Brennon Lund in the first inning extended his current hitting streak to six games.

That was the lone hit for the Cougars until they capitalized on Samford miscues, the first of which came in the fourth frame.  In that inning BronsonLarsen got aboard on a two-out error, followed by consecutive walks by Colton Shaver and Eric Urry, all of whom were plated by Anderson’s slam.

“Our offense did a nice job being patient until that error opened the door for us,” Littlewood said.  “We capitalized on that by putting together two more good at-bats by Urry and Shaver and the B (Brennon Anderson) put an exclamation point on the inning with the grand slam.”

Sophomore Nate Favero led off the three-run seventh with a solo homer, swatting a 2-2 fastball over the right field fence. That inning produced five hits as BYU left the bases loaded, the last of which was a single by Tanner Chauncey, who scored the third run and extended his hitting streak to 16 games.

“That's the beauty of our lineup—every guy will grind out at bats until we see an opening,” Littlewood said.  “Today our 7 and 9 hitters had home runs for us so that's nice to see.  Nate hit that ball (7th) right into the teeth of a 25-mph wind.

“Brennon (Lund) continues to spark the offense and did a great job running bases today,” Littlewood said. Lund scored BYU’s second run of the seventh on a wild pitch after he stole second and third bases on consecutive plays.

Samford took the initial lead in the third inning, 1-0.

The two teams play a doubleheader Friday afternoon in games that can be followed through live stat and live audio links on www.byucougars.com.

Undefeated BYU baseball travels to unbeaten Samford University in a four-game series in Birmingham, Alabama that starts Thursday.

The Cougars and Bulldogs each have 4-0 records after last week’s season openers. BYU is off to its best start since 1998.

“We're looking forward getting down to Birmingham and face a team from that part of the country,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “Samford is a big, strong team that has pop all throughout its lineup.  They are off to a good start and we definitely have our work cut out for us.”

Samford was picked to win the Southern Conference by the league coaches and Perfect Game. Samford outfielder Heath Quinn was named the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, while BYU outfielder Brennon Lund was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week.

Both Quinn and Lund went 10-for-16 last week, but Lund’s was a three-game total against Saint Louis University, while Quinn accomplished that feat in four games and hit for the cycle in one of those contests against Butler University.

Right-handers Michael Rucker (1-0, 3.00) and Maverik Buffo (1-0, 0.00) are BYU’s probable starters for Thursday and Friday’s games that start at 2 p.m. CST.   Lefty Hayden Rogers (1-0, 1.50) is scheduled to pitch in Friday’s nightcap and Littlewood is undecided who will pitch for the Cougars in Saturday’s noon finale.

After the Samford series, BYU’s team will participate in a Saturday night fireside in Birmingham before flying home to get ready for next week’s three-game series at Kansas.

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