GAME 1 STATS  |  GAME 2 STATS

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Tiffany Harbin shut down SIU-Edwardsville in a 3-0 JSU win in the first game of an Ohio Valley Conference doubleheader on Saturday before a first-inning grand slam led the Cougars to a 7-4 win in the finale.

Sophomore Kelci Johnston homered three times in the twinbill for the Gamecocks (25-9, 11-2 OVC), including two in the final game of the day, while Harbin struck out 13 and held the Cougars (14-20, 6-6 OVC) to just two hits in the opener.

In that opener, Harbin (14-4) shut the Cougars offense down to carry the Gamecocks to the series-opening win. The freshman from Hazel Green, Ala., held SIU to just two hits in her 10th complete game of the year. Her career-high 13 strikeouts handcuffed an SIUE offense that got just one baserunner past first in the game.

The Gamecocks managed just enough offense off of SIUE starter Erika Taylor, who surrendered three runs on seven hits, while striking out five and walking one in seven frames.

JSU scattered its seven hits between seven players, with junior Kristin Graham and sophomore Kelci Johnston providing solo home runs, the only two extra-base hits in the game.

Senior Sallie Beth Burch got JSU on the board with an RBI single that plated senior Amanda Crow in the fourth, while Graham's OVC-best 11th home run of the year gave the Gamecocks a 2-0 advantage in the sixth. Johnston's one-out shot to center, her sixth of the year, served as an insurance run in the top of the seventh.

Lindsey Barron and Kasey Schlafke each singled to account for all of the Cougars' offense in the opener.

In the nightcap, the Cougars jumped to an early lead and never looked back. They got four runs on Schlafke's grand slam and would never let the Gamecocks get closer than two runs down.

Johnston's second two-homer game of the season wasn't enough in a game that saw JSU muster just six hits off of SIUE's Lindsey Coleman, who allowed four runs, two earned, on six hits in seven innings of work.

Graham started the game in the circle for JSU but recorded just one out before surrendering three runs on two hits and a walk. She suffered the loss to fall to 3-2 on the year.

Johnston was 2-for-3 in a game in which five of JSU's hits went for extra bases. Freshman Hayden Crawford, sophomore Krystal Ruth and juniors Tess Echols and Kaycee Crow each doubled in the loss.

Taylor Tooley doubled twice in a 3-for-3, two-RBI game for the Cougars.

The two teams will wrap up the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. with a single game. The Gamecocks will be at home on Monday, when they host a single game against UTEP at 5 p.m. Admission is free.