JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State thwarted two late rallies by UAB to get back in the win column with an 11-10 Tuesday night win at Rudy Abbott Field.

The win snapped a modest two-game losing streak after the Gamecocks dropped a weekend series at Southern Illinois and moved the club's overall mark to 19-9.  The Blazers suffered their third straight loss, all by one run.  The two clubs are scheduled to meet in Birmingham on Wednesday on the UAB campus instead Regions Field.  First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at UAB's Young Memorial Field.

JSU broke a 4-all deadlock in the fifth on sophomore Taylor Hawthorne's two-run home run over the right field wall and pushed the two-run lead out to 11-4 with a five-run seventh inning.  Hawthorne powered the Gamecocks with a multi-hit game as he drove in two runs in the first with a single and added two more RBI with his first home run of the season and fourth of his career.  Freshman third baseman A.J. Reynolds was the only other Gamecock to have multiple hits. 

UAB recorded a leadoff home run in the first, but JSU responded with four runs on the board in the first inning.  After Hawthorne's pair of RBI, sophomore Hayden White collected a key two-out double to centerfield for two runs.  UAB's second frame mirrored the first with another leadoff home run as Carter Pharis belted the second dinger off of Jax State starter Colton Pate.  The Blazers added a run in the second with a bases loaded hit by pitch.

The Blazers equalized in the visitor's half of the fifth with an RBI from Griffin Gum.

After allowing three early runs, Pate settled in for a quick third and fourth frame before allowing the Blazers' fourth run in the fifth.  Pate was touched for six hits and struck out a pair in 23 batters faced.  The Lincoln, Alabama native registered his first win as a Gamecock with JSU's run-scoring fifth.

Sophomore Dalton Etheridge turned in a solid two innings of work and allowed just one Blazer hit in the outing.

Jax State took advantage of UAB's pitching ineffective pitching out of the bullpen with a runs manufactured by a hit by pitch and a walk.  The big hit of the frame was a bases-clearing triple by senior Tyler Gamble to give JSU breathing room with an 11-4 lead.

That breathing room quickly evaporated in the UAB eighth inning.  The Blazers rallied for six runs on just three hits and took advantage of three walks by sophomore Grant Chandler and Justin Hoyt.  Mitch Williams, Kyle Davis and Esteban Tresgallo had the three hits in the inning.

Hoyt, who earned his Ohio Valley Conference-leading 10^th save of the year, ran into trouble in the ninth with a leadoff single and a two-out walk.  The Birmingham, Alabama product struck out the side to preserve the win.

Wednesday's game will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network.  The contest will be a tune up for JSU's OVC weekend as it will host Murray State in a three-game set starting on Friday at Rudy Abbott Field.