JACKSONVILLLE — As if her fifth inning solo home run wasn't enough,
Emily Church hit a three-run walk-off blast the following frame to seal an 8-0 win for Jacksonville State and the weekend sweep of Morehead State.
Church's performance at the plate and another dominating effort in the circle by
Whitney Gillespie paced the Gamecocks (28-14, 17-0 Ohio Valley Conference) to another sweep in league play. JSU has now won its last 21 regular season conference games and extended the best start to league play in school history.
Church went 2-for-4 with four RBI on the two round trippers, an offensive output that was more than enough for Gillespie. The sophomore was masterful for the second-straight day, shutting out the Eagles (20-20, 7-8 OVC) offense on just two hits a day after no-hitting them in a win in game one of the series.
Gillespie (10-1) looked to repeat her feat from Saturday, holding MSU hitless through the first four innings before a pair of fifth-inning hits snapped her streak of hitless innings at 11 1/3. She has won 10-straight decisions and hasn't allowed a run in her last 20 1/3 innings in the circle for JSU.
Gillespie and MSU starter Mackenzie Grossman went toe-to-toe for four innings before JSU finally dented the scoreboard.
The Gamecocks scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth when
Anna Chisolm singled through the right side to plate Gillespie and
Emily Woodruff followed with a double down the left field line to score the St. Louis native.
In the fifth, Gillespie surrendered a leadoff double to Dana Hutchins to snap her hitless streak, one that stretched back to two outs in the seventh inning at UT Martin on April 10. Two batters later, Hannah Murphy singled back up the middle to round out the Eagles' hit production for the day.
Church's first homer in the fifth gave JSU a three-run lead into the bottom of the sixth, when the Gamecocks put it away.
Jordan Bullock singled home
Emily Woodruff and
Ella Denes.
Stephanie Lewis followed Bullock with a walk to set the stage for Church's game-ending blast.
Gillespie also struck out three and issued two walks while lowering her ERA to 1.14 in the win.
Morehead State threw three different pitchers with starter Mackenzie Grossmann (7-12) getting the loss after allowing two runs in 3.1 innings. She also issued four walks, surrendered three hits and struck out one after throwing 67 pitches to 18 batters.
Jacksonville State will return to action Saturday when the Gamecocks put their perfect OVC record on the line in Clarksville, Tenn., in a two-game doubleheader at Austin Peay.