JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State baseball team struck for six runs in the first three plate appearances and redshirt junior pitcher Garrett Farmer tossed seven shutout innings en route to a 9-0 blanking of Belmont in the opening game of a key Ohio Valley Conference series on Friday night on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.

With the win, the Gamecocks moved atop the league standings at the midway point of the OVC slate at 9-4 in OVC contests and 18-15 overall.  Belmont dropped to 15-18 on the season and 10-6 in the conference.  Due to the threat of heavy rains moving through the area on Sunday, the two clubs will wrap up the series on Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.  The series finale will get started 30-45 minutes following the conclusion of the first game.  Tickets are available at JSUGamecockSports.com.  All JSU students and fans 18 years old and younger are admitted free.

Redshirt freshman Nash Adams quickly put JSU on the scoreboard against the OVC Preseason Pitcher of the Year, Casey Queener.  Adams belted a leadoff home run off of Queener, who would be touched for six of the nine runs.  The Gamecocks chased Queener after just three innings, the shortest outing of the season for him.  JSU was gifted a second run on a throwing error by the Bruin catcher in the first inning.  Adams drove in two runs on the night with a sacrifice fly in the third inning.

Junior Alex Webb continued to swing a hot bat on Friday with three doubles on the night and pushing a pair of runs across the plate.  Webb's first double in the second inning scored both runs.  In the last eight games, the Columbia, Tennessee native has accounted for 14 hits, eight doubles and 12 RBI.  His second double in the sixth was just ahead of senior Nic Gaddis' two-run home run that extended the lead to 6-0.  It was Gaddis' seventh home run of the season, tying him for the lead on the team in home runs.  He scored after his third two-bagger on Isaac Alexander's fielder choice in the eighth.

All nine starters recorded hits against the two Belmont pitchers as the Gamecocks collected 13 hits.  Junior Chase Robinson added a pair of hits, while freshman Carson Crowe registered a multi-hi

While JSU kept expanding its lead in the first three innings,  Farmer limited the Bruins to just two hits on the night in seven innings of work.  Both hits came from Belmont leadoff hitter Zach Ehrhart.  Ehrhart started the game with a single but was picked off by Farmer.  After retiring the next eight Bruins, Ehrhart opened the fourth inning with a single.  Farmer finished the night with five strikeouts and issued a walk.

Redshirt junior Tyler Wilburn tossed the final two innings and posted a pair of strikeouts.

Both games of the doubleheader will be streamed on ESPN+ and aired on the Gamecock Sports Network.