BIRMINGHAM – Jacksonville State completed its first Ohio Valley Conference weekend sweep of the season on Saturday by scoring 13 unanswered runs in a 13-4 win over Murray State at Young Memorial Field on the UAB campus.
The Gamecocks, who claimed both games on Friday, 5-3 and 21-3, improved to 15-9 overall and 6-3 in league play. The Racers dropped to 14-14 on the season and 5-7 in the conference. The conference sweep is the first since JSU finished the 2017 regular season with three wins over SIU Edwardsville and the second sweep of the 2018 campaign after opening the slate with a sweep of Southern Illinois. Jax State enjoyed the confines of UAB's Young Memorial Field with 39 total runs on 39 total hits. The 39 runs for the weekend matches the most complied by the Gamecocks in a weekend set since a sweep of Austin Peay during the 2016 season.
JSU, who started strong in both games on Friday, struggled against Murray State's Luke Brown for the first four innings. Brown tossed four innings without giving up a hit to JSU until sophomore Andrew Naismith kick-started a Jax State rally in the fifth. The Auburn, Alabama native started the frame with a single, followed by Issac Alexander's double down the third base line. Freshmen Cole Frederick and Alex Strachan had an RBI sacrifice fly and an RBI ground out to plate the first two of four runs in inning. Senior Clayton Daniel tallied his seventh career triple, scoring Tanner Anderson from first base. JSU equalized with a wild pitch, scoring Daniel.
The Racers took advantage of some ineffectiveness from senior Colton Pate in their half of the fifth as two of Pate's five walks scored on an RBI double by Davis Sims and a two more runs on Ramsey Scott's single. That would be all the Racers would get the rest of the way as freshman Christian Edwards moved in line for the win after getting out of the fifth and pitching the next two innings. Edwards was touched for the one hit in the fourth and collected four strikeouts. The Hartselle, Alabama right hander picked up his first win as a Gamecock. JSU used Tyler Wilburn and Austin Brewster in the final two innings.
Naismith started a one-out rally in the sixth with a double and after back-to-back walks by Alexander and Frederick, senior Hayden White tallied the eventual game-winning RBI with a pinch hit walk. With two outs, Daniel put the ball in play and JSU took advantage of a Racer miscue, clearing the bases to expand the lead to 8-4 in the sixth.
JSU continued to pound Racer pitching in the seventh with a five-run at bat on four hits. It was Naismith who highlighted the inning with a two-run scoring double. Nolan Greckel also added an RBI single in the inning.
For the weekend, Naismith finished 7-for-13 with three doubles and a home run and drove in five runs.
The Gamecocks will have a busy week with a trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to face the Crimson Tide of Alabama on Tuesday at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. The game will be available on the SEC Network +, the online platform of the SEC Network. JSU returns to Choccolocco Park on Wednesday, hosting in-state nemesis Troy. Game time is set for 6 p.m. Following the midweek set, Jax State will travel to OVC leader Tennessee Tech for a series in Cookeville beginning on Friday.
