JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State baseball team dropped the opening game of the Ohio Valley Conference weekend series with Morehead State, 5-0, on Friday night on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.

The Gamecocks dropped to 21-20 overall and 12-7 in the OVC, while the Eagles improved to 28-15 on the season and 12-7 in the conference.  Jax State slipped out of a first-place tie in the league standings after Belmont and Austin Peay claimed wins on Friday night.  Game two of the series with MSU is set for 6 p.m. on Saturday.  Tickets for the contest are available on JSUGamecockSports.com.  All JSU students and fans 18 years old and younger are admitted free.

MSU's Dalton Stambaugh turned in a complete game shutout and kept the Gamecocks off balanced all night.  The lefty allowed a pair of hits in the first inning and shut down the Jax State lineup the rest of the way.  JSU had runners on second and third with two outs in the first before he induced an inning-ending ground ball out.  That out was the first of 17 straight Gamecocks that he retired.  JSU did not have a base runner until senior Nic Gaddis was issued a one-out walk in the seventh.  Gaddis and sophomore Cole Frederick were the two Gamecocks that touched Stambaugh with singles in the first at bat.  He faced two batters over the minimum and collected eight strikeouts.

Stambaugh received run support with solo runs in the second and third.  Ryan Layne drove in the first run of the game with one out in the second and Stephen Hill added a two-out double in the third.  MSU extended the lead in the fifth with an RBI single by Connor Pauly.  The Eagles tacked on the final two runs in the eighth.

JSU starter Garrett Farmer was touched for nine hits and three of the five runs.  Farmer matched Stambaugh's strikeout total with eight and walked just one MSU hitter in 6.2 innings of work.  Farmer was tagged with his first setback of the season (4-1).  Redshirt junior Tyler Wilburn finished the contest and added three strikeouts.