The Eastern baseball team kept Samford winless in Ohio Valley Conference play with a doubleheader sweep of the Bulldogs Saturday in Alabama.

Eastern (12-19, 7-3) rode its continued solid pitching in conference play to victory in game one. Junior starter Kyle Widegren had his most prolific game in a Panther uniform tossing 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball. The junior college transfer gave up an unearned run in the first inning when Bulldog second baseman Michael Collins scored on an error by Widegren to give Samford an early 1-0 lead.

The only other instance the Bulldogs had success against Widegren occurred in the bottom of the fourth when a hits batsman came back to haunt Widegren. With one out in the frame, Widegren plunked third baseman Trey Woody and, after a single and a sacrifice fly, Woody scored the Bulldogs second run of the game and last against the Panthers hurler.

With Widegren strong on the mound, Eastern took control of the game after a three-run third inning. Trailing 1-0, freshman Mark Chagnon led off the frame with a single to right field. After a ground out moved Chagon into scoring position, fellow freshman Ryan Campbell put the Panthers on the scoreboard with an RBI single to left field to tie the game. The tie was short-lived as Kevin Carkeek ripped a single to right center to score Kyle Haines, who reached base thanks to a walk from Bulldogs starter Karl Huch. Eastern would tack on one more run on Pete Stone’s RBI fielder’s choice ground out scoring Campbell.

Up by a run after four innings, Widegren and the Panther bullpen shut down down the Bulldogs the rest of the way. Samford did have a chance to get back in the ballgame in the sixth, when a base hit and a walk chased Widegren from the game. However, reliever Brian Long was able to strike out Matt Alling to end the inning leaving three Bulldogs on the bases.

Mustering just one hit over the final three innings the Bulldogs did not mount a rally. After Eastern added an insurance run in the ninth to go ahead 4-2, freshman Chris Vaculik pitched the ninth to pick up third save on the season. Widegren evened his record at 4-4 on the season, while Huch (1-5) was the tough luck loser pitching 8 2/3 innings and giving up all four runs.

“We got some quality pitching,” Eastern head coach Jimmy Schmitz said. “From the starter Kyle Widegren all the way down to the relief guys of Brian Long and Chris Vaculik.”