GAME ONE FINAL STATS  |  GAME TWO FINAL STATS

JACKSONVILLE – Jay Davis had a walk-off single to left center to score Sam Eberle as Jacksonville State rallied for a 5-4 win over Austin Peay as the two teams split Saturday's Ohio Valley Conference double-header. The Governors claimed a 9-5 win over the Gamecocks in the opener.

Jax State won for the seventh time in its final at-bat with the rally in the second game to improve to 24-12 and remain in first place in the OVC with a 7-4 record. Austin Peay is now 16-18, 6-4 in the conference.

In the second game, Todd Hornsby (3-2) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings and had a pair of strikeouts to earn his third win of the season for the Gamecocks. Jack Snodgrass (1-5) had nine strikeouts, but gave up five runs to get stuck with the loss for the Governors.

The Gamecocks rallied from a 4-1 deficit by scoring two runs in the fourth inning after Ben Waldrip and Blake Seguin each singled, and then with two outs, Jake Sharrock singled to left field and the ball rolled all the way to the fence after a Governor error that plated two runs and cut the lead to 4-3.

Waldrip then had a RBI single to right center in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the game at 4-4, before the Gamecocks rallied for their 16th come-from-behind win of the year in the seventh.

Eberle led off with a single and moved to second on the third APSU error of the game, before Waldrip singled to right center to put runners on the corner with no outs. Erik Underwood was intentionally walked to load the bases for the pinch-hitter Davis, who had a 2-2 count before he drilled the fifth pitch of the at-bat to the left center field fence for the game winner.

Waldrip led the Gamecocks with three hits, while Blanchard and Seguin each had two hits, while Michael Blanchard had two hits for Austin Peay.

In the opener, Jordan Hankins and Cody Hudson each had three hits and the Governors plated five runs in the fifth inning to claim a 9-5 win over the Gamecocks.

Jeremy Dobbs (7-1) scattered eight hits over 6 2/3 innings to earn the win for Austin Peay. Aaron Elias (5-2) had 10 strikeouts, but gave up nine hits to suffer the loss for the Gamecocks.

The Gamecocks held a 2-1 lead after Michael Bishop and Sam Eberle each drove in a run heading into the fifth inning, but the Governors rallied to take the lead for good in the fifth.

Hogan had a two-RBI double, while Matt Wollenzin drove in a run and Jordan Hankins drove in two more runs – all with two outs – as the Governors built a 6-2 lead.

The Gamecocks added a run in the fifth on a RBI single by Eberle, but APSU answered with a run in the sixth after Cody Hudson stole home and singled in a run in the seventh for an 8-3 lead.

Jax State scored a run in the seventh and the ninth on a Waldrip RBI single, while Austin Peay's Reed Harper came across to score in the top of the ninth for the final margin.

John Hogan, Blanchard and Wollenzin each added two hits for the Governors, while Eberle finished with three hits to lead Jax State.

The two teams will play the rubber game of the series on Sunday. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Rudy Abbott Field.