NASHVILLE – The Belmont Bruins had two big innings in Sunday's contest and thwarted a Jacksonville State rally to salvage the final game of the weekend series on Sunday at E.S. Rose Park in Nashville.

The Gamecocks, who claimed their sixth consecutive Ohio Valley Conference road series after winning a pitchers duel on Friday, 4-2, and pounding out a school-record 31 hits en route to a 26-11 Saturday win, dropped to 28-15 overall and 16-5 in OVC play.  The Bruins improved to the 25-10 on the season and 12-9 in the conference.

The Bruins started strong with three runs in the first inning off of sophomore Jack Pierce.  BU's leadoff hitter Kyle Conger tripled to centerfield to start the frame and scored on Chas Hadden's single to the left center gap.  Brennan Washington drove in a pair of runs with a two-run home run to left field.

JSU used the long ball for its first run of the contest in the second inning as senior Paschal Petrongolo belted a solo home run over the left center wall.  The home run was Petrongolo's second of the weekend off of Belmont pitching.  The Blackwood, New Jersey-native finished the weekend 5-for-15 with a pair of doubles and the two round trippers.  He now has eight home runs on the season and 10 doubles in 2016.  Petrongolo turned in his 11^th multiple hit game of the season with a single in the fourth.

The Bruins exploded for six runs in the fourth to push the lead out to 9-1.  Belmont strung together four hits in the frame, including a pair of run-scoring extra base hits.  Ben Kocher posted a pair of RBI on a one-out double down the left field line.  After another Bruin single by Conger and a Hadden walk, Tyler Fullerton greeted JSU relief pitcher Joe McGuire with a grand slam over the center field wall.

Jax State began its rally with two runs in the fifth and sixth innings.  Freshman Joseph Jordan, who was 2-for-2 on Sunday, drove in the first run of the fifth and after JSU loaded the bases, senior Elliot McCummings drew an RBI walk to trim the deficit to 9-3.  Sophomore Clayton Daniel extended his current hitting streak to 18 straight games with a two-run single to left center. 
The Gamecocks' rally continued in the eighth with a pair of runs.  Daniel drove in his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly to right field just before senior Tyler Gamble laced an RBI single to left field to plate JSU's seventh run of the game and make it a two-run game.

Belmont's Tyler Vaughn picked up his sixth win of the season after tossing the first 5.2 innings of the contest.  He allowed five runs on five hits and walked six Gamecocks in the outing, but posted eight strikeouts.  JSU's Pierce was saddled with the loss after being touched for eight runs on seven hits in just 3.1 innings of work.  McGuire, Nate Sylvester and Garret Farmer shutdown the Bruins the rest of the way as the trio allowed just four hits over the final 4.2 innings.

The Gamecocks wrap up the six-game road trip with a midweek two-game set in Mobile, Alabama against the Jaguars of South Alabama.  The first game of the midweek series is set for Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., followed by a matinee contest on Wednesday at 3 p.m.  JSU returns home next weekend to host OVC foe Eastern Kentucky for a three-game series at Rudy Abbott Field.