MIAMI, Fla. – Junior Nic Gaddis was a perfect 6-for-6 and collected six RBI in Jacksonville State's 13-6 win in 10 innings over Florida International on Saturday evening at FIU Stadium.
The win clinches the series over the Panthers for the second consecutive season in a row after the Gamecock (8-2) won 2-of-3 to open the year. Jax State will seek to complete its second weekend sweep of the season on Sunday. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. CST.
Gaddis, the Gamecocks' catcher, was one hit shy of matching the program's Division I record for hits with a game. Former Jax State outfielder Gavin Golsan produced seven hits in a game against Belmont during the 2016 season. Gaddis is the first Gamecock since senior Clayton Daniel accumulated six hits in a single game. Last season, Daniel posted six hits against Southeast Missouri on April 15.
Gaddis is just the third player this season in NCAA Division I Baseball to have six or more RBI in a game. New Mexico State's Noah Haupt drove in 10 runs last weekend against Mississippi Valley State, while Jake Brodt of Santa Clara and Brian Sharp pushed nine runs across the plate on Feb.17 and Feb. 23 respectively. He also joins a list of three other Division I players this season to have six hits in a single game. Greg Cullen of Niagra, NMSU's Haupt and Brandon Michie of Mercer have all finished with six hits in a game this season.
JSU needed a rally in the visitors half of the ninth to extend the game in to extra innings for the second straight night. On Friday night, JSU broke open a 6-6 deadlock in the 12th inning with a six-run explosion.
Trailing 6-5 entering the final plate appearance, Gaddis connected on his fifth hit of the night with a single, driving in senior Taylor Hawthorne, who reached on a one-out walk. Down to their last out, sophomore Andrew Naismith singled to left to give Gaddis the scoring opportunity.
After redshirt sophomore Tyler Wilburn (2-0) retired the Panthers in order in the ninth, JSU put together three hits and took advantage of an FIU error in the seven-run 10th. Freshman Isaac Alexander, opened the frame with a single and moved to second after sophomore Chase Robinson reached via a walk. Freshman Cole Frederick was put in a sacrifice bunt situation and put the bunt down right in front of the FIU catcher, who threw wildly to first, scoring both runners and putting Frederick on third. Senior Nolan Greckel collected an RBI single for the ninth run of the game. After Hawthorne was plunked and senior Trent Simpson and Naismith with back-to-back walks, Gaddis cleared the bases with a double for the final fun tally.
Wilburn settled in after entering the contest all knotted a 5-5 and was touched for a leadoff home run by FIU. The Helena, Alabama left-hander would retire the next nine Panthers before a leadoff single by FIU to start the 10th. He worked around the lead off base hit to get a strike out and two fly balls. Wilburn matched his career high in strike outs with six.
Junior Derrick Adams was solid in his third start of the season with five innings of work and a pair of strike outs. Redshirt freshman Sean Rape worked an inning. The JSU pitching staff did not allow a walk to the Panthers.
Jax State, who finished with 13 total hits off of six different FIU pitchers, opened the scoring with the first RBI from Gaddis. FIU would take a 2-1 lead in the home half before JSU would take a 5-2 lead with a pair of runs in the fourth and single runs in the fifth and sixth. Hawthorne highlighted the JSU fourth with a solo blast to right field. The lead would dissolve in the sixth with FIU scoring three in the sixth.
Simpson and Naismith joined Gaddis with multiple hits with two each.
