MARION, Ill. – Jacksonville State moved in to the championship round of the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament with its 11th win in a row as JSU handed Austin Peay an 8-4 loss on Friday at Rent One Park.

The Gamecocks will reach the championship round for the 10th time in the 16 consecutive OVC Baseball Tournaments since it joined the league.  The last time the program reached the championship round was in 2016.  Jax State is in the drivers seat after its sixth straight win over the Govs and the fourth win against them in the last week.  JSU will await the survivor of the next three tournament games.  The remaining teams are – No. 2 APSU, No. 3 seed Morehead State, No. 4 seed Belmont and No. 6 Seed Eastern Kentucky.  JSU will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday needing one win for the title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Baseball Championship Field.

Freshman Isaiah Magwood was splendid in a career-long outing on the mound against APSU.  The righty from Hazel Green, Alabama pitched 6.2 innings and collected eight strikeouts, which was one off his season-best of nine against Morehead State on April 27.  Magwood, who was named to the 2019 All-OVC Freshman Team earlier in the week, allowed two runs on seven hits and issued one walk. 

While Magwood was solid on the mound in toasty conditions on the turf, junior Alex Webb continued to be a thorn in APSU's side as the Columbia, Tennessee native was 3-for-3 in his first three plate appearances and drove in two runs with a two-out single in the second and a another in the fifth.  Going back to the final weekend series of the regular season with the Govs, Webb has accumulated nine hits and nine RBI.  His RBI in the fifth broke a 1-1 deadlock after APSU's Matt Joslin tied the contest with a leadoff home run in the top of the fifth.

JSU expanded its one-run lead with a three-run sixth inning, highlighted by an RBI sun-field double by Carson Crowe.  Junior Andrew Naismith and redshirt freshman Nash Adams pushed two runs across the plate on productive outs.



APSU added a run in the seventh with an RBI single by Garrett Kueber to make it a three-run game at 5-2.  The Gamecocks put some breathing room between them and APSU with three key runs in the eighth inning.  The inning was highlighted by a two-run triple by Adams, followed by an RBI single by junior Tre Kirklin.

Sophomore Jackson Tavel followed Magwood out of the bullpen to finish the seventh, eighth and the first out in the ninth.  APSU was kept alive with an RBI walk by Garrett Spain and an RBI single by Aaron Campbell.  Junior Corley Woods, who picked up the win in Thursday's walk-off win over Belmont, closed it out with a fly ball and a strikeout to clinch JSU's championship spot and his second save of the season.

Sophomore Cole Frederick extended his hitting streak with a leadoff single in the seventh to 17 consecutive games.  Crowe joined Webb with multiple hits in the victory.

Saturday's 4 p.m. contest will be available on ESPN+ and carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.