BIRMINGHAM – The Jacksonville State baseball team wrapped up the non-conference schedule with a 6-1 loss to in-state rival Samford on Tuesday night at Joe Lee Griffin Field.
The Gamecocks, who finished the non-conference portion of the 2017 slate with a 13-11 mark, will now turn their attention to the final Ohio Valley Conference weekend against surging SIU Edwardsville. The three-game set with the Cougars will begin on Thursday, May 18 at Oxford's Choccolocco Park. First pitch of the series-opening contest is set for 6 p.m. JSU and SIUE will play at 1 p.m. on Friday and Saturday afternoon. JSU will take an overall mark of 27-24 in to the series and a 14-13 record in the OVC. Jax State has secured a spot in next week's OVC Baseball Tournament held in Oxford, but this weekend's outcome will determine the seeding for the eight-team field. JSU has earned a berth in the OVC postseason every season it has been a member of the league, dating back to the 2004 campaign.
The Bulldogs gained a split of the season series after JSU claimed a 9-5 decision on March 14 in Oxford.
Samford (29-23) jumped out to a 3-0 lead and used nine different pitchers to scatter five JSU hits en route to the five-run midweek win. The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead with a two-run home run by Grant Colton and add the third run of the night with a fourth inning RBI single by T.J. Dixon. After JSU put its only run of the game on the scoreboard in the sixth with a bases-loaded, two-out walk by sophomore
Nic Gaddis.
The Bulldogs tacked on two more runs in the seventh with an RBI sacrifice fly by Jordan Fucci and a bunt RBI single by Taylor Garris. Samford added an unearned run in the eighth for the final scoring of the night.
Leadoff hitter
Nolan Greckel and junior
Trent Simpson had two hits each in the setback, while senior
Josh Bobo added a base hit. Junior
Clayton Daniel saw his OVC-best 15-game hitting streak come to an end on Tuesday, but his streak of reaching base was pushed to 17 consecutive games. Another Gamecock streak came to a halt on Tuesday as junior
Taylor Hawthorne's 14-game hitting streak was snapped.
Jax State used the contest to get some innings in for the bullpen that will be counted on in tournament play. After starter
Michael McCreless reached the fourth inning, redshirt freshman
Tyler Wilburn was the first arm in relief, followed by freshman
Cody Dodd. McCreless suffered the loss and dropped to 0-3 on the season. McCreless posted a pair of strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work. Wilburn was effective for 2.1 innings, allowing three Bulldog hits.
Tickets for this weekend's series are available at JSUGamecockSports.com. All JSU students and fans 18 years old and younger are admitted free. All three games with SIUE will be audio streamed at JSUGamecockSports.com.
