FINAL STATS

JACKSONVILLE – Scott Underwood and Cal Lambert each drove in a pair of runs to lead Jacksonville State to a 5-1 win over Murray State as the two teams have now split the Ohio Valley Conference series.
 
Daniel Watts (3-5) allowed just four hits and had five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings on the mound to earn the win, while Todd Hornsby allowed just one hit over the final 2 1/3 innings to pick up his eighth save. Tyler Beers (3-4) only allowed four hits, but gave up four runs to suffer the loss for Murray.
 
Jax State (15-22, 9-5 OVC) took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning after Underwood led off with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. Sam Eberle followed with a single to center to move Underwood to third before he scored on Ben Waldrip's infield grounder to third.
 
Murray State (19-21, 5-9) tied the game in the sixth inning on a RBI double by Mike Kozlowski that scored Travis Isaak all the way from first base to make the score 1-1.
 
The Gamecocks answered in the home half of the sixth after Coty Blanchard had a one-out triple to left center and Underwood followed with a single to score Blanchard and give JSU a 2-1 lead.
 
The Gamecocks tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh inning, highlighted by a two-RBI pinch-hit double by Cal Lambert, while Underwood drove in his second run of the day with a grounder to third for the final score.
 
Underwood led the Gamecocks with a pair of hits, while Waldrip had a double in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to a team-best 13 games. Eberle also extended his reached base streak to 24 games and Kyle Bluestein has now reached in 21 straight games.
 
The two teams will play the rubber game of the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Rudy Abbott Field. JSU will start Hunter Rivers (2-3, 5.19 ERA) and Murray will counter with Bryan Babin (3-2, 5.09) as the Gamecocks look to win their seventh straight OVC series.