MURRAY, Ky. – Junior Taylor Hawthorne registered a 3-for-4 day at the plate and drove in all four runs in Jacksonville State's 6-4 loss to Murray State on Saturday at Reagan Field.

For the third consecutive weekend, the series will come down to a decisive Sunday contest after the Gamecocks opened the series with a 7-5 win in 11 innings on Friday night.  The setback drops JSU to 13-11 overall and 3-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play.  The win pushed MSU to 15-11 on the season and 6-5 against OVC competition.  Sunday's rubber game will get started at 1 p.m. and will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network and streamed online on the OVC Digital Network.

Hawthorne, who had three of JSU's 10 hits on the day, was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.  The shortstop from Prattville, Alabama plated the first two Jax State runs with a single to right field.  He pushed across the plate two of the three runners that reached on walks by Racer starter, Austin Dubsky.  Hawthorne cleared the bases in the sixth with a one-out triple that found the gap in right center, scoring Clayton Daniel and Trent Simpson.

Hawthorne's first two RBI sliced the Racer lead in half at 4-2 and it remained a two-run deficit until MSU scored two runs off of an RBI single by Caleb Hicks, cushioning the lead to 6-2.  The Gamecocks responded in the sixth with Hawthorne's triple.

The rest of the JSU lineup struggled against MSU's four pitchers as they fanned 11 Gamecocks, but aided JSU's comeback with seven walks.  Chance Carner, the third hurler used by MSU, picked up the win in relief.  JSU could not come through with a key hit as it stranded 13 bases runners, including two bases-loaded situations.

The Racers jumped on the scoreboard out of the gates with a solo home run by Kipp Moore off of JSU's Colton Pate.  MSU would score four of its six runs in the first three innings, including a two-run third inning.  Pate went 4.1 innings and was touched for just three hits, but walked five and struck out three.

Jax State threatened in its final at bat as it had the tying runs in scoring position with two outs before pinch hitter Payton Young lined out to centerfield.  Simpson started the ninth with a single and with two down, senior Joe McGuire drilled a double down in the left field corner.

McGuire will start in Sunday's contest and will look to have a repeat performance of last week at Southern Illinois.  MSU will send Jack Hranec to the mound on Sunday.