JACKSON, Tenn. – Jacksonville State was unable to close out the 2016 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship as Southeast Missouri forced a winner-take-all contest with a 10-7 win on Sunday at The Ballpark at Jackson.

SEMO forced the second contest by taking advantage of eight walks by three JSU pitchers and touching the trio of arms for 12 total hits.  The Redhawks, who stayed alive by eliminating Austin Peay on Saturday night, took a 1-0 lead in the first with an unearned run off of JSU starter Derrick Adams.  SEMO extended the lead with a pair of runs in the third after back-to-back extra base hits by Branden Boggetto and Garrett Gandolfo.  Boggetto had an RBI triple, while Gandolfo followed with a double to left center, scoring SEMO's second and third runs.

The Gamecocks put a run on the scoreboard in the home half of the frame after sophomore Taylor Hawthorne drove in a run with an infield single.
Adams ran into more trouble in the fourth as the Redhawks collected four hits and took advantage of back-to-back two-out walks.  Gandolfo added two more RBI with a single to right.  Hunter Leeper plated two more runs with a single.

The Gamecocks mounted a comeback off of SEMO starter Jacob Lawrence in the sixth as they pushed three runs across the board in the sixth.  A.J. Reynolds delivered a triple to left center, driving in Josh Bobo and Hayden White.  Gavin Golsan lifted a fly ball to center for JSU's fifth run.

With JSU right back in the contest and momentum on its side, it needed a shutdown frame but SEMO had two free passes that eventually scored on Brian Lees single to right field.

JSU threatened for a big inning in the ninth, but SEMO's Adam Pennington induced a double play ball with the bases loaded and a fly ball out to stay alive.
Hawthorne led JSU at the plate with three hits and an RBI, while Reynolds added a pair of hits.