2017 OVC Baseball Tournament Bracket
2017 OVC Baseball Championship Central

OXFORD – Jacksonville State will have a lot of momentum heading in to the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament next week after completing the weekend sweep of SIU Edwardsville on Saturday with an 8-4 decision at Choccolocco Park.

It was JSU's first weekend sweep of the season as it down the Cougars 8-2 on Thursday night and rallied late for a 3-1 win on Friday afternoon.  Sunday's game was called after the top of the eighth after the third lightning delay was issued.  The Gamecocks recorded their 30^th win of the season to extend a streak of five straight seasons in which a Jim Case club has reached the 30-win plateau.  The 2017 season marks the 14^th season that Jax State has collected 30 or more wins under Case in his 16 seasons in charge of the program.  JSU finished the season tied for third in the league with Belmont with identical 17-13 records in the OVC, but the Bruins win the tiebreaker for tournament seeding after taking the season series with JSU. 

JSU's focus shifts to the postseason for the 14^th consecutive season as it will be the No. 4 seed in the 2017 edition of the OVC Baseball Tournament, which will commence in Oxford at Choccolocco Park on Tuesday, May 23.  Austin Peay, the No. 7 seed and UT Martin, the No. 8 seed, will face off on Tuesday evening before the double elimination portion of the eight-team event gets going on Wednesday.  JSU's first action in the tournament will be at 11 a.m. on Wednesday against No. 5 seed Southeast Missouri.  The Gamecocks and Redhawks played for the tournament title last season and were the preseason favorites coming in to the 2017 season.  SEMO took 2-of-3 from JSU in April at Capaha Field in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.  Jax State claimed the final game of the series, 17-7.

For the third consecutive day, JSU jumped out to a lead on SIUE and did not fall behind the rest of the way.  On a day that JSU honored its six seniors prior to the game, it was a junior that had the big day as Trent Simpson finished with four RBI on the day, highlighted by a two-run blast that keyed a five-run fourth that opened up the game to an 8-1 advantage.  Simpson recorded the first two RBI on a first inning sacrifice fly and the Oxford, Alabama designated hitter posted an RBI on a ground out in JSU's two-run third that broke up a 1-1 contest.  Freshman Andrew Naismith had an RBI single in the third to give JSU a 3-1 lead.

JSU pieced together its five-run fourth on five hits off of SIUE starter Danny Ehrsam.  Senior Josh Bobo started the inning with a double and scored on Nolan Greckel's single to left field. Bobo finished the regular season with a pair of hits.  Juniors Clayton Daniel and Taylor Hawthorne put together back-to-back base hits before Simpson's big blast.  Daniel and Hawthorne combined for five of JSU's 13 hits on the day as Daniel collected hits in his first three plate appearances and Hawthorne had a pair of hits.  Daniel finished the OVC slate having a hit in 14 consecutive league games and pushed his on base streak in the league to 28 straight games.  The Guntersville, Alabama native finished the season hitting .403 against the OVC.  Hawthorne also extended his hitting streak against the OVC to 13 consecutive games.

A big cushion was all senior Joe McGuire need on the mound as he picked up his eighth win of the season and fifth in the OVC after a solid five innings of work.  The Oxford, Alabama right hander was touched for five hits but allowed one run and tallied a pair of strikeouts.  Junior Grant Chandler made his second appearance of the weekend and pitched a pair of scoreless frames and fanning three in the outing.  Redshirt freshman Tyler Wilburn started the eighth and was touched for three runs on three hits.  Senior Michael McCreless came in to end the SIUE threat with the bases loaded.  The Huntsville, Alabama right hander induced a fly ball to centerfield to end the inning before the rain came. It was his second save of the season and third of his career.

Five of the six seniors contributed in the win as Peyton Williams carded a pair of hits and A.J. Reynolds made his 31^st start in the outfield.  Nate Sylvester shined on Friday with four innings of work out of the bullpen to pick up the win.

All games in the OVC Baseball Tournament will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network.  Fans can watch the entire 2017 OVC Baseball Tournament live on the OVC Digital Network. There is no charge to watch the event and the games are available on any computer, tablet or smart phone by live and on-demand.

Tickets, which can be purchased in person at the park, will be $10 per day or $25 for an all-session pass (up to 14 total games). There is also an $5 a day rate for college students with ID as well as children 6-12 years old (children 5 and under are free).  All seats are general admission for the OVC Championship.