COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – For the second consecutive day, Jacksonville State dropped a tough decision to Tennessee Tech as the Golden Eagles walk away with an 8-7 win on Saturday at Bush Stadium in Cookeville.
The Gamecocks dropped to 16-12 overall and 6-5 in OVC play, while TTU clinched the series and moved to 24-5 on the season and 13-1 against OVC opponents. JSU will look to get a win in the series on Sunday in the finale. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. The game will be carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.
After TTU rallied on Friday with a 9-8 win in the ninth, on Saturday TTU trailed 7-5 entering its final at bat and started the ninth with back-to-back singles. JSU's Trent Simpson induced a ground ball out, that scored a run before issuing JSU's ninth walk of the day. TTU's Nick Osborne drilled a double to the right center gap to push the tying and winning runs across the plate for the win. It was the second rally of the chilly contest for Tech as they erased an early deficit with one swing of the bat in the fourth. David Garza delivered a three-run home run to left field off of JSU starter Derrick Adams. That would be the only bad pitch Adams threw against one of the top offenses in NCAA Division I Baseball. Adams went the first 5.1 innings and scattered six hits and had four strikeouts.
The Gamecocks jumped on TTU starter Marcus Evey as he lasted just two innings and allowed the first three runs of the contest. Jax State posted a pair of runs in the first inning. Senior Clayton Daniel started the manufacturing of the first run with a lead off single and swiped second base and took third on an errant throw by the Tech catcher. Simpson had an RBI fielders choice for the first run of the day and would eventually score on the second of four errors in the day by Tech. JSU increased the lead in the second inning as Daniel scored on a passed ball. Daniel finished the day with a hit and reached base three times on Saturday. The Guntersville, Alabama native has now hit safely in 25 straight OVC games and has reached base in the last 38 league games going back to last season. In his career, Daniel has at least a hit in 92 OVC games and has reached base in 94 of the 100 league outings he has played in.
Jax State broke the 3-3 deadlock with a three-run sixth that was started by senior Hayden White's one-out double. Freshman Alex Strachan had a pinch hit RBI single along with a bases loaded walk by Nic Gaddis for the second run of the frame. Daniel scored for the third time on a wild pitch.
JSU added the seventh run in the seventh after Cole Frederick reached on the fourth error by Tech. It would cost the home squad as he would come home on a White sacrifice fly. Tech trimmed the lead four-run hole to two runs with a two RBI bloop single by Garza. He finished the day with three hits and five RBI.
JSU will send senior Colton Pate to the mound in Sunday's finale.
