GAME ONE BOX SCORE
GAME TWO BOX SCORE

JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State softball team ran its win streak to 12 games on Saturday afternoon, when the Gamecocks handed Tennessee Tech a pair of 8-0 mercy-rule defeats in Ohio Valley Conference action at University Field.

The Gamecocks (29-9, 13-1 OVC) got a walkoff home run from junior Hillary Downs, her second of the game, to end the first game of the day in the sixth inning before junior Chrissy O'Neal ended the nightcap with a two-out double in the fifth. They have now won their last seven league games and their last four against the Golden Eagles (23-25, 9-8 OVC) via the mercy rule.

While the Jax State offense combined for 16 runs on 21 hits, including four home runs, pitchers Karla Pittman and Ashley Eliasson were limiting the TTU offense to just five hits on the day. The Golden Eagles hit just .135 while managing to get just two runners past first base over the twinbill.

Pittman (10-1), a senior from North Canton, Ohio, faced just 19 batters in the first game, striking out two and allowing just two hits over six innings of work. She has now won her last eight decisions and dropped her team-leading ERA to 1.12. Eliasson (12-4), a Vallejo, Calif., native, claimed her eighth-straight win in the second game after striking out five while limiting Tech to just three hits in her five-inning stint.

Downs paced the JSU offense on the afternoon, going 4-for-6 with two doubles, two homers and four RBI over the two games. In the first game, the Clildersburg native's home runs tied the school record and made her the 10th player in JSU history to hit two round trippers in a game.

Junior Nikki Prier continued her impressive run through the OVC, going 3-for-4 with three walks and two RBI. The native of Raleigh, N.C., has now hit safely in her last 12 games and is batting a league-best .482, .568 in league play. Over the Gamecocks' current 12-game win streak, she is hitting .632 with six home runs and 21 RBI.

Seniors Jackie Jarman and Allie Barker hit the Gamecocks' other home runs on Saturday, while driving in four and three runs, respectively. O'Neal had two singles, a double and a triple in her six at bats over the two games.

For Tech, Lacie Coquerille recorded two of the team's five singles to pace the Golden Eagle offense.

In the first game of the day, the Gamecocks struggled to push runs across early. They scored one in the first on a sacrifice fly from freshman Meredith Sellers but stranded seven baserunners over the first three frames. The fourth saw JSU plate four runs, thanks to a Downs leadoff homer, a two-run blast from Barker and an RBI double from Sellers.

They stretched the lead to 7-0 with a two-run fifth on an RBI single from Prier and a double from Barker, setting the stage for Down's two-out walk-off winner in the sixth.

Holly Thomas (12-12) suffered the loss for TTU in the opener after surrendering eight earned runs on 10 hits and eight walks in 5.2 innings of work. Kristina Hortert (1-3) took the loss in the nightcap after surrendering eight runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings in the circle. She struck out two and walked three.

In that final game, The Gamecocks got one run in each the first and second innings before a three-run homer from Jarman in the third gave JSU a commanding 5-0 advantage.

Jax State put the game away in the fifth, thanks to O'Neal's game-ending double that was set up by and RBI single from Jarman and a run-scoring double from Downs.

The Gamecocks and Golden Eagles will wrap up the three-game series on Sunday with a single game at 1 p.m. Admission is free.