Photo GalleryJACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State baseball team saw its seven-game winning streak halted with a 7-4 setback in the final game of the series with Air Force on Sunday at Rudy Abbott Field.
The loss is the first since dropping a road contest at Alabama State on March 18. The Gamecocks were able to take the series with the Falcons after wins back-to-back wins on Friday and Saturday. JSU drops to 16-9 overall, while Air Force snapped a six-game losing skid and completes a nine-game road trip.
For the second consecutive day, JSU came from behind after the Falcons scored a two-out run on Tyler Jones' double off of Gamecock starter
Jake Walsh.
Jax State responded with a three-run bottom half of the third that was highlighted by
Josh Bobo's double down the left field line that scored
Hayden White. The Gamecocks plated an unearned run on the play after a relay throwing error by the Falcons shortstop.
Paschal Petrongolo plated Bobo with a ground ball to third.
Walsh, a freshman from Melbourne, Florida, started strong with a season-high seven strikeouts before running in to trouble in the fifth. Air Force's Spencer Draws belted a one-out solo home run to right field off of Walsh to cut the lead to 3-2. After a Noah Pierce infield single, Jones posted a two-run home run over the left field fence to give the Falcons a 4-3 lead.
The contest remained a 4-3 standstill until the JSU seventh and after two outs in the frame. Senior
Ryan Sebra tallied a two-out hit, followed by a double by junior
Elliot McCummings. The Gamecocks were gifted a run after a balk call on Air Force pitcher Michael Rieker. McCummings finished the day as JSU's top hitter with three hits.
With the game deadlocked at 4-all late in the contest, the Falcons scored three runs over the final two innings to take the lead. Air Force re-gained the lead in the eighth with a pair of unearned runs off of JSU reliever
Dalton Etheridge. Travis Wilkie scored the go-ahead run after reaching base with a leadoff single. Pierce lifted a fly ball to right to score Adam Groesbeck for the sixth run.
JSU tried to mount a comeback and looked like it had taken a 7-6 lead on a Petrongolo drive that near the right field foul pole that was ruled foul by a few feet. The Gamecocks had two on after a leadoff walk by
Hayden White and a Bobo walk.
Air Force added an insurance run in the ninth after perfecting the squeeze bunt.
Etheridge was saddled with his first loss of the season, while Rieker notched his first win of the season. Steven Trojan pitched the final two innings for Air Force to earn his first save of the season.
JSU will close out the month of March with a Tuesday contest with in-state rival Alabama A&M. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Rudy Abbott Field. The Bulldogs of AAMU dropped a three-game series to Troy over the weekend. Admission to JSU baseball is free for JSU students and fans ages 18 and under.
