MOREHEAD, Ky. – Morehead State exploded for 11 runs and strung together 11 hits in the second inning to cruise to a 14-6 win over Jacksonville State in the series opener at Allen Field on Friday night.

The loss drops JSU to 29-20 overall and 17-8 in Ohio Valley Conference play.  The Eagles of MSU improved to 28-22 on the season and 14-11 in the league.  Jax State will attempt to even the series on Saturday in the second game of the three-game series.  First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m. CST.

It was another rough start for senior Graham Officer after being touched for eight runs a week ago against Eastern Kentucky.  Officer was staked to a 1-0 lead after JSU put the first run on the board with an RBI single by senior Tyler Gamble.  The Eagles' lineup was highlighted by the bottom half of the order.  In the contest, the six through nine hitters were 11-for-15.  Most of those hits came in the 11-run, 11-hit second inning and finished with 17 total hits off of JSU pitching.  MSU's first six hitters in the inning turned in base hits with the big knock coming from Ryan Kent as he cleared the bases on a double to left center.  MSU took advantage of a pair of JSU fielding miscues in the frame that allowed two more runs to cross the plate.  MSU's Niko Hulsizer drove in a run before Braxton Morris delivered a three-run home run for the final runs of the frame.

Combined with the Eagles' 11-run second and the pitching performance by Matt Anderson made it a tough opener for the Gamecocks.  After being touched for the first run of the game in the first, Anderson settled in and tossed 7.0 innings and allowed just Gamecock hits and a pair of runs.  Anderson turned in 10 strikeouts and gave up three free passes.

Officer suffered his first loss against a conference opponent after going just 3.0 innings.  The Milton, Georgia right hander was touched for two more runs in the fourth on Hunter Fain's two-run home run.
JSU sophomore left hander Jack Pierce turned in a solid 4.1 innings of work and limited the Eagles to one run on three hits.  Pierce had all three of JSU's strikeouts.

The Gamecocks added the second run of the game with a Paschal Petrongolo RBI single right field, scoring Clayton Daniel, who started the inning with single.

Gamble collected three of his four RBI on the day with his second of three hits in the contest with a home run to right center that went over the tall netting.  The three-run blast was his ninth of the year.  He added a single in the ninth for his third hit of the day.  Sophomore Taylor Hawthorne produced JSU's final run with a solo home run to right field.

While the bottom portion of MSU's line up propelled the offense, it was Jax State's two through five hitters coming through at the plate.  The part of the Gamecock lineup finished with nine of the 10 JSU hits in the loss.  

Junior Joe McGuire will get his second start in as many Saturdays as he will face the Eagles in the second game of the series.  McGuire turned in a solid first start last weekend against EKU. 

Saturday's contest will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network.