CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – It was another gut-wrenching walk-off loss for Jacksonville State at Southeast Missouri's Branden Boggetto belted a leadoff homerun in the ninth to give the Redhawks a 5-4 win on Friday in the first game of an Ohio Valley Conference series at Capaha Field.
The walk-off solo shot was Boggetto's second leadoff home run of the contest as he went opposite field to start the fifth inning for SEMO. The round-tripper started a three-run inning for SEMO as it erased a 2-1 deficit to take a 4-2 advantage.
It was the third consecutive walk-off setback for Jax State on the road in conference play as Murray State claimed a pair of walk-off wins two weeks ago. The loss dropped JSU to 19-17 overall and 7-9 in OVC play. The win pushed SEMO's season mark to 23-14 and maintained its OVC front-runner status with a 14-5 conference mark.
The Gamecocks touched SEMO starter Joey Lucchesi in their first at bat as they manufactured a two-out run after a double by
Tyler Gamble to the gap in right center, scoring
Clayton Daniel, who also had a double to the same spot. JSU added another run off of Lucchesi in the third as
Paschal Petrongolo lifted a deep fly ball to left to drive in
Gavin Golsan. Golsan started the inning with a single and swiped second before being pushed to third by Daniel.
After Golsan's single in the third, Lucchesi would retire the next nine Gamecocks until Daniel punched a bloop single to right field to begin the sixth. After Daniel was erased on a double play, Gamble went opposite field for his second home run of the season and first off OVC pitching.
The Gamecocks trailed 4-3 heading in to the eighth and after two were out in the inning, Gamble connected on his third hit of the night with a single to right. Needing a hit to extend his 11-game hitting streak and his 15-game OVC hitting streak, senior
Ryan Sebra sent a clutch two-out double to the gap in right center, scoring Gamble from first.
Senior
Zachary Fowler did not factor in to the decision after JSU rallied in eighth, but turned in another quality start. Fowler tossed the first seven innings and recorded six strikeouts.
Joe McGuire came on in relief in the eighth and suffered tough loss on the bump. SEMO's Matthew Wade moved to 2-0 on the season after throwing the final two innings for the Redhawks.
The Gamecocks and Redhawks will return to action on Saturday as the three-game series continues at 1 p.m. The game was moved up an hour from the original start time of 2 p.m. in case of inclement weather that is forecasted for the Cape Girardeau, Mo. area.
The contest will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network with air time set for 12:45 p.m.
