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One day before the Gamecocks host Ball State in their home opener at University Field, junior Sara Borders became the fifth Gamecock to earn Ohio Valley Conference Weekly honors on Monday.

The Alexandria, Ala., native became the fourth Gamecock to earn OVC Player of the Week in just four weeks of competition after going 5-for-7 in two games at the Chanticleer Challenge on Saturday. She and the Gamecocks (13-5) will take on a red-hot Ball State team that is 12-4 despite dropping a pair of games at No. 7 Arizona last week. Tuesday will be "White Out University Field," where fans are encouraged to wear white. And the first 150 fans will receive a free JSU Pin. JSU students and fans ages 18 and under receive free admission to all JSU home games.

After Cadi Oliver, Kalee Tabor and Amanda Maldonado earned OVC Player of the Week honors the first three weeks of the season, JSU took a week off from the field before the scheduled Chanticleer Challenge last week. Despite having the first two days of the tournament rained out and only getting two games last week, Borders managed to produce enough to be recognized by the league office on Monday.

She opened the week with her fourth career four-hit game in a 5-0 win over Appalachian State. The 4-for-4 outing saw her homer and double with two RBI before homering again in a 3-0 win over Furman in the second game of the day. On the weekend, she hit .714 with a .750 on base percentage and a 1.714 slugging percentage. She joins the quartet of previous winners this season, along with Tiffany Harbin, who was the league's Pitcher of the Week in Week One.

The Gamecocks finally play at home on Tuesday evening against the Cardinals, a team that is hitting .354 and scoring over six runs per game. If you take away a pair of mercy rule losses at Arizona last week, they are outscoring their opponents by more than three runs per game. They are led by Biana Evans' .467 average and six stolen bases, while Jennifer Gilbert is hitting .408 with team highs with six home runs and 21 RBI. Taylor Rager is also batting above .400, while Three other starters are at .388 or better.

The Gamecocks got a solid weekend in the circle, with complete-game shutouts from senior Harbin and freshman Taylor West. Harbin fanned 10 batters in her three-hit gem of Appalachian State, while West struck out five and scattered seven hits in her first career appearance.

JSU leads the Ohio Valley Conference with a .328 batting average, as well as their league-best 22 home runs and 112 runs scored. Borders leads the OVC with her .517 batting average and her 19 RBI. She is tied for the league lead with Tabor with six home runs.

Tuesday's game will be the first in a 10-game homestand at University Field, where the Gamecocks will open OVC play this weekend against Tennessee Tech.