FINAL STATS
JACKSONVILLE –
Kyle Bluestein drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning with a single down the left field line to score
Scott Underwood and give Jacksonville State a 5-4 win over Alabama State at Rudy Abbott Field on Tuesday evening.
Robby Lilly (1-0) notched his first career win after allowing just one hit over the final 1 1/3 innings of relief. Armando Ruiz (0-2) scattered four hits over the final 4 1/3 innings to suffer the loss for Alabama State.
Alabama State jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after scoring a single run in the first, second and third innings, before the Gamecocks got on the board in the fourth inning.
Sam Eberle hit a solo home run to left field to extend his hitting streak to a season-best 11 games and extended his reached base streak to 29 straight games.
The Hornets answered in the fifth inning on a RBI single by Richard Gonzalez to push the lead to 4-1, but the Gamecocks battled back with a run in the fifth, sixth and seventh inning.
Kyle Stone had a RBI single in the fifth,
Cal Lambert drove in a run in the sixth and
Ben Waldrip hit his team-high 15th home run to tie the game at 4-4 in the seventh inning.
Both teams remained scoreless over the next six innings, although they did have their chances after the Gamecocks left the bases loaded in the 10th inning and Alabama State left them loaded in the 13th inning.
Scott Underwood led off the 14
th with a one-out single to left field and
Sam Eberle followed with a single up the middle. Ruiz then got Waldrip to foul out to the first baseman for the second out, before Bluestein hit the first pitch he saw down the left field line for the walk-off win.
Underwood led the Gamecocks with three hits, while Eberle, Waldrip, Bluestein and Lambert each had two hits. Richard Amion, Leo Rojas and Jordan Mims each had two hits for Alabama State.
The two teams will meet again on Wednesday. Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Wheeler-Watkins Baseball Complex in Montgomery, and the game will be carried on the JSU Radio network
