BOX SCORE

JACKSONVILLE – Garrett Copeland and Dre Gleason each hit home runs to lead Austin Peay to a 6-1 win over Jacksonville State in the opening game of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series on Friday evening.
 
Alex Robles (2-1) scattered six hits and had four strikeouts after seven solid innings on the mound to earn the win for the Governors. Taylor Shields (3-2) gave up six hits and four earned runs to suffer the loss for the Gamecocks.
 
Austin Peay (9-11, 3-1 OVC) took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning after Gleason led off with a solo home run and and Logan Gray scored on a Gamecock error, but the Gamecocks (12-9, 4-3) got a run back in the home half of the second.
 
Ryan Sebra led off with a single up the middle and came around to score after Paschal Petrongolo hit his sixth triple of the season to cut the Austin Peay lead to 2-1, but the Govs got a run back in the fourth inning after Kevin Corey scored on a sacrifice fly.
 
The Govs added to more runs in the sixth inning after Cayce Bredlau drove in a run and P.J. Torres scored on a Gamecock error for a 5-1 lead.
 
Austin Peay added an insurance run in the seventh inning after Copeland led off with a solo home run for the final margin. Gleason, Torres and Ridge Smith each had two hits to lead the Governors at the plate.
 
Stephen Bartlett led the Gamecocks with a pair of hits, while Eddie Mora-Loera extended his hitting streak to a team-best 10 games with a single in the third inning.
 
Due to the threat of rain on Sunday, the two teams will play a pair of nine-inning games on Saturday. The first game will begin at 1 p.m., while the second game will start at approximately 4 p.m. Both games will be carried on the OVC Digital Network, the JSU Radio Network and live stats are available at JSUGamecockSports.com.