COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech claimed the opening game of the Ohio Valley Conference series with a 9-8 win over Jacksonville State on Friday afternoon at TTU's Bush Stadium.
The Golden Eagles delivered the game-winning RBI in the ninth with a double by Chase Chambers down the right field line, scoring Kevin Strohschein all the way from first base. The Gamecocks dropped to 16-11 overall and 6-4 in OVC play. With the walk off win, TTU moved to 23-5 on the season and 12-1 in the conference. The two clubs return to the diamond on Saturday for game two of the series at 2 p.m. The weather forecast for the Cookeville area could cause a game time change.
TTU, one of the most prolific offenses in NCAA Division I Baseball, started strong by jumping out to a 4-0 lead on Jax State through the first three innings, highlighted by three solo home runs in the home half of the third frame. TTU opened the scoring with an RBI single in the second before the home runs by Collin Harris, Alex Putzig and Strohschein. Strohschein was one of six different TTU hitters to have multiple hits.
The Gamecocks answered in the fourth inning with a three-run fourth that was aided by Tech fielding miscues, but highlighted by one of three hits by freshman Cole Frederick and a misplayed ground ball of the bat of Clayton Daniel. Frederick pushed across an RBI for the first run, while Daniel's slow grounder at second base rolled under the Tech infielders glove that allowed two more runs in the inning.
JSU kept the momentum offensively with a four-run fifth that saw JSU record three hits and another error on Tech. Senior Trent Simpson kick-started the trio of hits with a one-out single. Followed by one of Andrew Naismith's four hits on the day. Frederick reached on a the Tech error that kept the inning alive and plated the game-tying and go-ahead runs with two outs. A TTU would pitch scored the third run and a Daniel RBI single finished off the run-scoring frame. Daniel, who had three hits on the day, started the contest with back-to-back doubles in his first two plate appearances.
Trailing 7-4, Tech began to chip away at the deficit with solo runs in the fifth and sixth to trim the lead to 7-6. JSU responded with a run in the seventh after a two-out RBI double by senior Taylor Hawthorne. Tech equalized with a two RBI single by John Ham. Jax State had a chance to take the lead in the ninth, but could not get the run home as it stranded 13 base runners in the contest and walked five Tech batters.
Redshirt sophomore Garrett Farmer was effective after being touched for the early four runs. Farmer went five innings and struck out six. Austin Brewster pitched the seventh, while Grant Chandler tossed the final two innings. Chandler was saddled with the loss, while Tyler Sylvester earned the win in relief.
The final two games of the weekend set will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network.
