OXFORD, Ala. – Sophomore Andrew Naismith went 3-for-4,including a pair of home runs to power Jacksonville State past Southern Illinois, 7-4, on Opening Day at Choccolocco Park on Friday afternoon.
Naismith collected four RBI on the day with his pair of blasts over the right center wall at the Oxford, Alabama park. The Auburn, Alabama native, who had a stellar freshman campaign en route to earning a spot on the Ohio Valley Conference All-Freshman Team last season, started his sophomore season with his first two-run round tripper in his first plate appearance in the second inning to give sophomore right hander Garrett Farmer an early lead. He would expand the lead in the fourth with the second home run in the fourth with a solo shot to move JSU's lead to 3-1 after SIU's Logan Blackfan put the first run on the board for the visitors from Carbondale, Illinois. Blackfan joined Naismith with two home runs in the contest.
Farmer, who made his second consecutive Opening Day start after earning the nod last season in the opener at Florida International, was effective in his four innings of work after coming off an injury that cut his 2017 season short after three starts. Farmer earned the win in the contest and held SIU to one hit and a run in his four frames. Farmer, from Huntsville, Alabama, tallied five of the 10 strikeouts by the Jax State pitching staff. Head coach
Jim Case used five pitchers in the opener and the group gave up just one walk in the contest.
Senior Trent Simpson began his senior campaign on a high note offensively and relished the role of the club's closer as he earned his first career save in a Gamecock uniform with a ninth inning appearance. Simpson belted Jax State's third home run of the day in the fifth to move the lead to 5-1 after five complete innings. Simpson recorded JSU's first hit of the year with a single in his first at bat. Simpson stuck out the side in the ninth and avoided trouble as SIU threatened with a pair of hits in the ninth.
JSU had three new faces in the lineup on Opening Day and two of the three registered their first collegiate hit. Freshman Isaac Alexander, who started at shortstop, had an RBI single in the sixth and played solid defense at shortstop in his JSU debut. Freshman Cole Frederick, who was inserted at third base, had a hit in his first collegiate contest. Freshman Tanner Anderson earned the start in right field. Senior Taylor Hawthorne, who volunteered to take over in centerfield, continued to be swing a hot bat with a pair of hits.
Case used sophomore Corley Woods as the first guy out of the bullpen. Woods went 2.2 innings and was touched for three hits but allowed the solo run. Senior Grant Chandler made his 74
th career appearance to finish the SIU seventh. Redshirt sophomore Tyler Wilburn got JSU out of an eighth inning jam with an inning-ending double play to silence the Salukis' threat.
Along with Blackfan's 3-for-4 day, Jared Kengott was the only other Saluki with multiple hits.
The two squads continue the season-opening weekend series on Saturday at 1 p.m. JSU will send Preseason All-OVC lefthander Derrick Adams to the mound, while SIU will counter with Jamieson Steege.
Live stats of Saturday's contest will be available at JSUGamecockSports.com.
