BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Sophomore Garrett Farmer recorded seven strikeouts in six innings, while junior Taylor Hawthorne paced the Jacksonville State offense in a 3-2 win over Western Kentucky on Friday afternoon at WKU's Nick Denes Field.

JSU moves to 3-1 on the season and has strung together three consecutive wins and has a leg-up on the Hilltoppers in the weekend series after the one-run decision.  WKU drops to 2-3 overall as the two clubs will meet in the second of three games this weekend on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Farmer, from Huntsville, Alabama matched his career high in innings with six frames on the mound and was one strikeout away from matching his career best with seven strikeouts against WKU.  The lefthander was touched for seven of WKU's hits, but he only allowed a pair of solo runs in third and the fourth.  JSU played solid defense behind him as the lone JSU error was by Farmer.  He picked up his first win of the season and fifth of his career.
Hawthorne sparked the Gamecock lineup with a 3-for-4 contest at the plate, including a pair of doubles that highlighted JSU's solo runs in the first and third.  Inserted in to the two-spot in the line up, the Prattville, Alabama shortstop drilled a one-out double to left field in his first plate appearance and scored on Trent Simpson's ball that was misplayed by the WKU third baseman.  Hawthorne produced his second double of the day with one out in the third.  He was pushed across the dish on senior Josh Bobo's RBI single to centerfield.  Hawthorne collected his third hit of the day in the fifth, but JSU could not take advantage of the first two batters reaching base in the frame after junior Clayton Daniel started the inning with a single.

After WKU evened the contest at 2-2 in the fourth on an RBI single by Thomas Peter, Farmer worked his way out of two Hilltopper threats in the fifth and sixth.  In the fifth, WKU had runners on the corners with no outs, but Farmer battled back to get out of the jam with his sixth strikeout of the outing.

Farmer's ability to get out of the fifth led to JSU's offense manufacturing the eventual game-winning RBI in the sixth.  Freshman Payton Young started the frame with a single, followed by freshman Andrew Naismith working a walk.  Freshman Chase Robinson, who had a double earlier in the game, laid down a sacrifice bunt to put the Gamecocks in scoring position.  Senior Peyton Williams grounded out up the middle, but Young was able to put JSU's third run on the scoreboard.

The JSU bullpen was able to nurse the 3-2 lead in the final three innings as senior Nate Sylvester, Simpson and Justin Hoyt combined to allow just one Hilltopper hit over the final three innings.  Sylvester came in relief of Farmer in the seventh, while Simpson made his mound debut in the eighth.  Hoyt registered his second save of the season, but had to get out of a two-out situation in the last inning.

JSU touched WKU starter Ryan Thurston for all three runs on eight hits, while Kevin Elder finished the final 3.1 innings for the Hilltoppers.

Live video and audio will not be available for Saturday's contest, but live stats will be linked on JSUGamecockSports.com.