HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Jacksonville State continued its hot start to the 2017 season on Friday, when the Gamecocks opened the Southern Miss Black & Gold Invitational with a pair of wins.
The Gamecocks (6-1) started the day by jumping on Mississippi Valley State and cruising to a 14-7 win and then handed Nicholls State a 4-3 defeat. The loss for NSU was just its second of the season in eight games, while Jax State improved its best start to a season since 2006, when it started 8-1.
The Gamecocks set the tone right off the bat, plating 10 first-inning runs and never looking back. Sophomore
Anna Snider delivered the big blow of the inning with a grand slam to straightaway center, her first career home run. The blast for the White Plains native was one of two round trippers for JSU in the game.
Sophomore
Amber Jones, a transfer from Troy and native of Etowah, also belted her first career homer in the win.
The Gamecocks racked up 14 hits in the win, with Snider, sophomore
Anna Chisolm and freshman
Aryan Williams each led the way with two hits apiece. Snider's four RBI were a team high, while Jones and
Taylor Sloan added two.
Senior
Taylor West earned the win, tossing a total of 5 1/3 scoreless innings that saw her hold the Delta Devilettes to just one hit. The Anniston native struck out eight and walked just one to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Monica Rivera was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs on four hits and a walk. She failed to record an out in the first before being chased from the circle.
In the second game of the day,
Jamie McGuire provided most of the offensive pop, plating the first run on a sac bunt and then breaking a late 2-2 tie with a two-run homer.
The Gamecocks grabbed two first-inning runs on a fielding error and a
Jamie McGuire sac bunt.
Whitney Gillespie held the Colonels in check until the fifth, when a leadoff homer from Haley Stevenson and a JSU error tied the game at 2-2.
McGuire didn't let the game stay tied for long. The Glencoe native followed a one-out double from
Emily Woodruff with her blast to left center that gave JSU the lead for good.
NSU plated one in the seventh, but Gillespie stranded the tying run at third to earn the win. The Pelham native improved to 2-1 by holding NSU to three runs, one earned, on seven hits in seven innings of work. She struck out two and walked one.
Megan Landry was tagged with the loss for NSU after allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits in six innings of work. She fanned five and walked one.
The Gamecocks return to action on Saturday with a 3 p.m. meeting with host Southern Miss. They will then wrap up the weekend with a 6 p.m. rematch with MVSU.
