GAME ONE BOX SCORE
GAME TWO BOX SCORE

MARTIN, Tenn. – Juniors Nikki Prier and Chrissy O'Neal each homered twice on Sunday and the Jacksonville State softball team got complete games from Karla Pittman and Ashley Eliasson to sweep UT Martin in a rain-shortened Ohio Valley Conference series.

After rain cancelled play on Saturday and turned the series into just a Sunday twinbill, the Gamecocks (21-9, 6-1 OVC) led in every inning of each game. They scored in each of the first four innings to cruise to a 6-3 win in the opener and rode a solid outing from Eliasson in the nightcap to claim a 7-1 win.

The sweep extended the Gamecocks' win streak against the Skyhawks (18-14, 2-6 OVC) to 16 in a row, one that started with a three-game sweep of UTM in the 2005 season.

Prier, a native of Raleigh, N.C., homered and drove in two runs in each of the two games and went a combined 4-for-7 over the sweep to lead the JSU offense. In the opener, she hit a solo home run in the fourth inning before capping the Gamecocks' scoring in the second game with a seventh-inning solo shot. She runs her season total to six home runs, just one behind senior Allie Barker for the team lead.

O'Neal led off the opening game with a solo homer and added a two-run shot and a triple in the finale. The Dallas, Ga., went 3-for-7 on the day and drove in three runs along the way.

The Gamecocks' pitching staff kept the Skyhawks' bats at bay all day, with Pittman starting the day with her fifth complete game in seven starts this season. The North Canton, Ohio, native to a run on two hits over the first six innings before UTM added two more in the seventh. Pittman (6-1) ended the day allowing two earned runs on six hits to lower her team-leading ERA to 1.56.

Eliasson (8-4) was impressive in the second game of the day. The Vallejo, Calif., native carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and gave up just a run on a solo home run from Lauren Roberts in the seventh inning. She ended the game with seven strikeouts and allowed a run on just three hits.

In the first game, JSU used O'Neal's first-inning solo blast and an RBI single from junior Hillary Downs in the second to build an early 2-0 lead. The Skyhawks got an unearned run in the home half of the second to cut the lead in half, but a three-run third inning for the Gamecocks broke the game open.

Prier added her first homer of the afternoon in the fourth to give the Gamecocks a 6-1 lead, and UTM would tack on two more in the seventh and brought the tying run to the plate, but Pittman struck out Laurie Lindow to close the JSU win.

Freshman Meredith Sellers joined Prier as the lone Gamecocks with multiple hits in the game. The Columbiana, Ala., native went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Kara Harper (7-5) suffered the loss for UT Martin after surrendering six runs on nine hits in 6.1 innings in the circle. Paij Lintz recorded the other two outs for UTM, striking out the only two batters she faced.

In the final game of the day, a first-inning sac fly from Barker scored O'Neal and set the stage for Eliasson's gem. She held the 1-0 lead until the fifth, when O'Neal's leadoff triple set up a run-scoring double from freshman Kaycee Crow, who later scored on a sac fly off of Prier's bat.

O'Neal belted a two-run homer down the left field line to cap a three-run sixth for JSU, and Prier's seventh-inning round tripper gave JSU and Eliasson a 7-0 lead going into the final half inning. Roberts put a run on the Skyhawks' side of the board with her one-out homer, but Eliasson would be able to finish off the Skyhawks and hand the Gamecocks their fourth-straight win and sixth in the last seven games.

Chelsea Jones (6-4) allowed three runs on five hits in 4.2 innings of work and was credited with the loss for the Skyhawks. Lintz surrendered the last four runs on just two hits and four walks in 2.1 innings of relief work.

The Gamecocks will be back on the diamond on Tuesday, when they travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn., for a 1 p.m. nonconference doubleheader at Middle Tennessee.