JACKSONVILLE – After closing out the regular season with a sweep of UT Martin, the Jacksonville State baseball team has turned its attention to the 2016 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship this week in Jackson, Tennessee.

The sweep vaulted the Gamecocks (32-22, 20-10 OVC), into second place in the OVC standings and by virtue of the finish, they earned the No. 2 seed and the much-needed opening round bye in the tournament that gets underway on Wednesday at the Ballpark in Jackson.  Jax State will open the tournament on Thursday, May 26 at 3 p.m. against the highest surviving seed from Wednesday's opening round games.  The six-team tournament will get started at 1 p.m. on Wednesday with No. 4 seed Morehead State facing No. 5 seed Tennessee Tech.  The final game of the day will pit No. 3 seed Austin Peay against No. 6 seed Belmont.  First pitch between the Governors and Bruins is slated for 5 p.m.  Southeast Missouri, the regular season champion, will begin tournament play at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

JSU is making its 13th straight appearance in the OVC Tournament and has an all-time record of 31-18 mark, advancing to the OVC Championship eight of the last 12 years.  JSU has won the OVC Tournament four times, claiming the title in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014.  Last season, JSU dropped its first game to Tennessee Tech, but survived to play again after eliminating SIU Edwardsville.  SEMO topped JSU to end the 2015 season.

The Gamecocks have an all-time record of 93-64 against teams in the 2016 OVC Tournament.  JSU is 20-19 against top-seed SEMO, 18-9 versus APSU, the No. 3 seed in the tournament.  Jax State is 18-13 against MSU, while JSU holds a 26-18 mark versus Tech.  The Gamecocks are 11-5 against No. 6 seed Belmont.  In 2016, JSU is 8-7 versus the other five teams competing in Jackson, Tennessee.  The Gamecocks won the season series with three of the five teams, including a sweep of APSU.  JSU won road series at Tech and Belmont.  SEMO claimed the series over JSU in Jacksonville, while Morehead State swept Jax State in Morehead, Kentucky.

Jax State continues to be one of the top offensive teams in the OVC and in NCAA Division I Baseball.  The club enters the postseason with a team batting average of .314, which ranks second in the league.  In OVC games only, JSU is hitting a league-best .342. On the national level, the Gamecocks rank in the top-10 in scoring (7th,), runs (7th), hits (3rd) and doubles (7th).  JSU's .314 mark at the plate is listed 15th in the nation.  JSU ranks second in the nation in doubles per game with 2.46 per game and trails Air Force for the nation's lead.  The Falcons average just over 2.5 doubles per game.  The Gamecocks are two doubles shy of matching New Mexico's mark of 135 total doubles.
Individually, senior Gavin Golsan ranks ninth in runs (61), while sophomore Clayton Daniel ranks ninth in hits (86).  Daniel is also ranked as the 10th toughest batter to strikeout in NCAA Division I Baseball. Redshirt sophomore Justin Hoyt ranks 24th in the nation in saves with 11.

All of JSU's games will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network and all tournament games will be streamed on the OVC Digital Network.