Eastern let an opportunity to be in third position in the Ohio Valley Conference by losing a doubleheader to Samford Saturday.

The Bulldogs won the pair of games 9-5 and 3-2, using excellent situational hitting to get two road wins against the Panthers.

“I give Samford all the credit in the world because they hit the ball hard in game one and then the guy they threw in game two had classic 88 to 92 miles per hour heat, so what can you do,” Eastern head coach Jim Schmitz said.

“That guy” was Samford starter Stephen Artz who got his second victory of the season winning a pitching duel with Eastern’s Ted Juske.

Juske, still searching for his first victory, took the hard luck loss moving his record to 0-6 for the year.

The opening game starter for Samford Parker Gargis won the game with a two-RBI single giving the visitor a 3-1 lead.

Garigs, who will be competing for the starting quarterback job on the Samford football team, threw six innings giving up only three earned runs lowering his 10.29 ERA entering the contest.

Eastern ace Kyle Widegren was roughed up in the first game giving up six earned runs on 10 hits and lowering his record to 2-5.

The Panthers stranded a total of 20 base runners in the opening 9-5 loss.