MARTIN, Tenn. – Jacksonville State won its sixth Ohio Valley Conference weekend series and third in a row after collecting an 8-5 win on Saturday over UT Martin at Skyhawk Field.
The Gamecocks improved to 27-22 overall and 14-12 in OVC play and with Belmont's win over Southeast Missouri on Saturday, they will enter Sunday's final game of the series alone in fourth place in the conference standings. JSU will look for its first OVC weekend series sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. on the UTM campus. The Skyhawks dropped to 23-27 on the season and 10-16 versus the OVC.
Just like Friday night's 5-4 win over UTM, the Gamecocks jumped out to a big lead and thwarted a Skyhawk rally. JSU used another big inning with a five-run fifth and added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth to preserve the win. The Gamecocks took an early 1-0 lead in the third on
Clayton Daniel's RBI single to left field, scoring freshman
Chase Robinson. Daniel posted his 25
th multiple hit game of the season with a pair of hits in the victory. The Guntersville, Alabama native pushed his hitting streak to 14 games with his RBI single in the third. Daniel has now reached base in 15 straight games and has been aboard in 24 consecutive league games. Robinson paced the Jax State lineup with three hits, his second three-hit outing of the year. The Pell City, Alabama outfielder had a pair of infield singles and had one of JSU's four hits in the fifth inning.
UTM matched JSU in the fourth as JSU starter
Colton Pate (2-6) managed to limit the host school to just the lone run on three hits. Pate turned in another effective start and notched his second win of the season after tossing 5.2 innings. UTM touched him for 10 hits and four runs, but the Lincoln, Alabama right hander worked out of jams throughout the outing.
Jax State batted around and sent 11 batters to the plate against UTM starter Dalton Westfall (5-5). Sophomore
Nic Gaddis broke up the 1-1 deadlock with a two RBI single up the middle. Freshman
Andrew Naismith, who also had a multiple hit game had an RBI single in the frame. Senior
A.J. Reynolds lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield for the fourth run of the inning. After Robinson's hit in the frame and
Josh Bobo getting hit by the pitch, Westfall walked in the final run after issuing a free pass to
Nolan Greckel.
UTM would rally with a big number in the sixth frame. The Skyhawks strung together three hits and took advantage of a leadoff walk in the inning by Pate. Connor Aubu had an RBI on a fielder's choice followed by a one-out RBI single by Tyler Albright. JSU went to the bullpen with
Trent Simpson and he was greeted by a two-run home run by Dan Kerwin to get UTM with a run at 5-4.
JSU's insurance runs came
Taylor Hawthorne's RBI single through the infield, scoring the first run. Hawthorne would get in a run down long enough for Daniel to take home for the second run on the play.
Senior
Nate Sylvester and redshirt junior
Justin Hoyt combined to finish the final 2.3 innings with just one UTM hit. Sylvester recorded a pair of strikeouts in the outing to set up Hoyt to close the contest in the ninth. Hoyt notched his second save of the series and eighth of the season after retiring UTM in order.
Sunday's contest will be available via live stats only at JSUGamecockSports.com.
