RICHMOND, Ky. – For the second straight Saturday, Jacksonville State freshman Jake Walsh turned in another stellar outing on the mound as the Gamecocks clinched the series against Eastern Kentucky with a 5-2 win at Turkey Hughes Field on the EKU campus.

Jax State will aim for its second consecutive Ohio Valley Conference weekend sweep on Sunday at Noon CST after taking all three games last weekend against Belmont.  The Gamecocks improved to 12-11 in the OVC and 25-21.  The win pushed JSU into a two-way tie for sixth place in the conference standings with Tennessee Tech, who topped OVC-leader Southeast Missouri, 11-5 on Saturday.  With Saturday's win, the Gamecocks have now won 11 straight series against the Colonels.  EKU dropped to 17-26 overall and 8-14 in OVC play.

Walsh, who went seven complete innings last Saturday against the Bruins, was extended to 7.1 innings of work and limited EKU to just six hits and a pair of runs.  The Melbourne, Florida-righthander posted six strikeouts and did not issue a walk.  Walsh collected his third win overall and second in as many weeks against OVC competition. 

Walsh was touched for the first run of the game in the first inning as EKU got a leadoff hit by Kyle Nowlin, who scored on a sacrifice fly by T.J. Alas.  He would settle in the rest of the way and not allow the Colonels to score their second run until the seventh.  Walsh had a string of retiring 11 straight Colonels and did not allow an EKU hit from the third inning until Alas led off the seventh with a single.
While Walsh was limiting the EKU offense, the Gamecocks started to warm up at the plate.  JSU touched EKU pitching for 14 hits on the day, including a three-hit putting for freshman catcher Hayden White.  After trailing 1-0 through the first three innings, Jax State pushed the equalizing run across the plate.  Senior Ryan Sebra doubled just inside the third base line and moved to third on a single by Paul Angel.  Junior Elliot McCummings laced an RBI single to left center.

JSU would break the 1-all deadlock in the seventh with an RBI single by Paschal Petrongolo.  He drove in White, who started the inning with a single.  JSU was gifted a run by a throwing error by the Colonels on a sacrifice bunt situation to give JSU a 3-1 lead heading in to the home half of the seventh.

Alas finally solved Walsh for the leadoff hit in the eighth and moved in to scoring position after a wild pitch and a ground ball out.  EKU put two on base to end Walsh's day and loaded the bases with a single off of freshman Grant Chandler.  Chandler induced a fly ball to right center to score Alas and then another deep fly ball to end the threat.

JSU added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth with White starting things off with a double to center.  EKU botched another sac bunt attempt by the Gamecocks with another throwing miscue.  White scored the fourth run of the day as Taylor Hawthorne moved to third on his sac bunt play.  Clayton Daniel came through again with a sacrifice fly to right to plate JSU's fifth run.

Senior Travis Stout quick-worked the Colonels in the ninth to collect his 11^th save of the season.  Logan Hershenow suffered the loss for EKU.

The Gamecocks and Colonels close out the three-game weekend series on Sunday with a 12 p.m. CST start.  JSU will likely go with senior Tony Urban on the mound against EKU.  The contest will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network with air time set for 11:45 a.m.