BIRMINGHAM, ALA. -- Zach Hester pitched eight innings of three-hit, shutout baseball to lead Samford to a 3-0 blanking of Furman in Southern Conference baseball action Sunday afternoon at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

The win completed the three-game series sweep for Samford (17-6, 3-0 SoCon) while Furman (5-16, 0-3 SoCon) dropped its seventh straight game.

Hester (3-1) was in command for most of his eight frames, recording eight strikeouts and not issuing any walks. 

He didn't allow a hit until Dax Roper's one-out double in the fifth.  In the sixth Furman's David Webel tripled to right field with one out, but he was stranded after Hester struck out pinch-hitter Sterling Turmon for the second out and got Banks Griffith non a fly out.  Logan Taplett's one-out single in the eighth was the only other hit allowed by Hester.

The little support Hester needed came in the fourth inning when the Bulldogs combined a double with a hit batsman, and two walks, including one with the bases loaded, to push across a run.

Samford added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings against Paladin starting pitcher David Dunlavey (1-5), who allowed three runs on five hits over six innings.  He walked three and fanned six.

Dunlavey has been supported by only one run in his last two starts.

Jordan Fucci led Samford's six-hit attack, going 2-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI, and a run.

Furman has a pair of mid-week road games on the radar, playing at Winthrop on Tuesday and versus Gardnder-Webb on Wednesday in a contest that will played in Shelby, N.C.