CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Jacksonville State came up on the short end of a 1-0 pitcher's duel with Southeast Missouri on Friday night at Capaha Field in Ohio Valley Conference action.

The Gamecocks fall to 17-14 overall and 6-8 in OVC and will look to claim the series finale on Saturday at 2 p.m.  The Redhawks improved to 19-14 on the season and moved to 10-7 in league play.  Saturday's contest will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network and streamed on the OVC Digital Network.

SEMO's Justin Murphy tossed the complete game shutout on Friday and it was just the third time this season and second time against OVC competition that JSU was shut out in a contest.  Jax State fell to Florida International in the season opener and at Austin Peay earlier in league play.  Murphy allowed eight Gamecock hits but five of the eight singles came with two outs in the frame.  He kept JSU off balanced at the plate and did not issue a walk until Payton Young drew a two-out free pass in the ninth.  Murphy, who needed 126 total pitches, finished the game with five strike outs in his 34 batters faced. 

JSU's Colton Pate was equally sharp as Murphy in the contest, but suffered a tough loss in the decision.  Pate turned in a career-longest outing against SEMO as the Lincoln, Alabama right hander went 7.2 innings.  He was touched for three hits and allowed three walks in the outing and fanned five Redhawks.

The lone run in the contest came in the fourth as one of Pate's three walks came back to hurt him as that walk scored the eventual game-winning run.  Pate issued back-to-back walks to Chris Osborne and Dan Holst to start the inning.  He induced an infield pop up and a fly ball to right field, but could not get out of the inning unscathed as Chris Caffery delivered a single up the middle, scoring Osborne.  Osborne's solo home run in the sixth on Thursday was the difference in the opening game of the series.

Following Caffery's run-scoring single, Pate retired 10 consecutive Redhawks until Connor Basler started the eighth inning with a single.  After Basler moved to second on a sacrifice bunt to put him in scoring position, Pate induced a fly ball for the second out.  JSU went with senior Nate Sylvester for the final out in the eighth.

The Gamecocks had chances early to put runs on the scoreboard against Murphy but could not get a clutch two-out hit.  The Gamecocks had runners at second and third in the fifth, but Murphy got out of the jam with a strikeout.

Junior Clayton Daniel extended his overall hitting streak to 10 straight games and 12^th straight OVC game with a hit with his second multiple hit contest of the series.  Freshman Chase Robinson also added a pair of hits.

Senior Joe McGuire will start for the Gamecocks on Saturday, while SEMO will counter with Nate Green, a left handed pitcher.