CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Jacksonville State captured the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship on Friday with a 14-5 win over Austin Peay at Raymond C. Hand Field.

The Gamecocks secured the programs third regular season OVC crown and the seventh overall title.  It marks JSU's first regular season championship since the 2008 campaign.  As the league champion, Jax State also secured the top seed in the 2019 OVC Baseball Championship next week in Marion, Illinois.  JSU's first game will be on Thursday, May 23 at 11 a.m.  The win marked the 21st league win, which is the most collected by JSU since a 22-OVC win season in 2013.  JSU improved to 33-21 overall and 21-8 in OVC action.  APSU dropped to 30-22 on the season and 19-10 against OVC foes.  The Govs will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament.

JSU overcame a 2-1 deficit in the fifth with 13 runs over the final four plate appearances.  The Gamecocks used the long ball three times on the night, including a pair by senior Nic Gaddis.  After APSU took its first lead of the series after breaking up a 1-1 deadlock in the sixth, Gaddis knotted the contest with a solo home run down the left field line.  Sophomore Alex Strachan gave JSU a lead that it would not surrender with an opposite field two-run home run for a three-run sixth and a 4-2 lead in the game.

Jax State continued to expand that lead in the seventh with its largest run producing inning of the season.  The Gamecocks sent 12 batters to the plate and collected five hits, highlighted by Gaddis' grand slam that broke open the tight contest.  After Gaddis' third career grand slam and the 27th home run of his career, redshirt freshman Nash Adams had an RBI single, followed by a two-run single by junior Tre Kirklin.  Gaddis finished with three hits on the night and five RBI.

In control of the contest, JSU posted three more runs in the eighth with a two-run RBI double by Isaac Alexander and he scored on a wild pitch in the frame.  Alexander, Kirklin, Alex Webb and Strachan all had multiple hits in the contest.

Freshman Isaiah Magwood, who helped Hazel Green High School to a championship last season on the prep level, picked up the win in championship-clinching outing.  Magwood went the first five innings and collected five strikeouts and allowed two earned runs.  Sophomore Jackson Tavel and junior Corley Woods split the final four innings.

Saturday's series finale is set for 1 p.m. and will be available on ESPN+ and carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.