NASHVILLE, Tenn. – For the second consecutive Friday night, Jacksonville State's Graham Officer tossed a gem to help JSU take the first game of the weekend series over Belmont, 4-2, at E.S. Rose Park near the Belmont campus.

The win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Gamecocks, who improved to 27-14 overall and 15-4 in OVC play.  Jax State will attempt to claim the series with the Bruins on Saturday.  First pitch has been pushed back to 2:30 p.m. to avoid anticipated weather in Music City in the morning.  JSU will be looking to win its sixth OVC series of the season and fifth consecutive OVC road series dating back to last season.  The 15^th conference win guarantees Jax State its 11^th season with 15-plus conference wins since joining the league in 2004.

After a seven-inning performance last week in a win over Southeast Missouri, Officer mirrored that performance on Friday.  The Milton, Georgia native posted a career-high 7.1 innings and allowed just two runs.  Both runs came early in the contest as the Bruins scored their only runs in the second inning.  The Bruins' got on the board with a solo home run by Brennan Washington.  BU manufactured its second run of the inning as Clay Payne lifted a sacrifice fly to left, plating Walsh, who doubled in the frame.

JSU answered in the third with the first of three runs off of Aaron Quillen, who had a solid night on the mound as well.  Quillen tossed seven innings and allowed eight Gamecock hits and struck out 11 batters.  Bruin pitchers finished the night with 14 strike outs.  JSU's first run off of Quillen came on an RBI double from Clayton Daniel.

JSU equalized in the fourth inning and recorded the eventual go-ahead run.  Senior Paschal Petrongolo belted a solo home run to left center, followed by junior Josh Bobo's 10^th home run of the season.  It is the third time this season that the Gamecocks have gone back-to-back.

The lead was all Officer needed as he would retire 10 straight batters before Chas Hadden broke that string with a leadoff single in the sixth.  JSU had scoring chances off of Quillen in the fifth and sixth, but could not get a key hit.  JSU stranded nine in the contest, while BU left five on base.

Freshman Garrett Farmer closed out the final 1.2 innings of the contest for JSU as he struck out the final out of the eighth and added two more in the ninth to record his first career save and JSU's 17th of the season.

The Gamecocks added an insurance run in the ninth as senior Gavin Golsan delivered a key one-out single, driving in JSU's fourth run of the game.  Golsan, Bobo and A.J. Reynolds had multiple hits in the game to lead JSU's 10-hit attack.

Saturday's game will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network and streamed online on the OVC Digital Network.