JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State's late rally came up short on the opening day of the baseball season as Southern Illinois held on to an 8-7 decision over JSU on a chilly afternoon on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.

JSU put together a round robin weekend event with SIU, Alabama State and Tennessee Tech after a winter weather storm blanketed the southeast region.  The Gamecocks were scheduled to face Baylor in a three-game weekend series in Waco, Texas, but it was canceled midweek.  The opening weekend action on the JSU campus continues on Saturday and Sunday with five games over the next two days between the four clubs.

The Salukis expanded a two-run lead out to a six-run cushion in the top half of the seventh after a four-run frame that was aided by a bases-clearing double by SIU's Philip Archer to make it an 8-2 contest.

Jax State's offense thawed out in its portion of the seventh with five runs on two hits.  SIU pitching issued three consecutive walks to junior Cole Frederick, senior Alex Webb and junior Alex Strachan before graduate transfer Jaylyn Williams earned a free RBI with the fourth free pass of the inning.  Williams joined the Gamecocks after two seasons at Jackson State and was an All-SWAC performer.  Williams, from Greenville, Mississippi, collected the first JSU RBI of the season with a single in the first inning. Freshman Derrick Jackson, Jr. turned in the big hit of the frame with a double to left field, pushing two more runs across the board.  Sophomore Carson Crowe, who sparked the lineup with a towering leadoff home run the sixth, recorded his second RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly to right field.

SIU thwarted Jax State's offense over the final two innings behind the pitching of Trey McDaniel, who tossed the final three innings to earn the save.  SIU's Matthew Steidl picked up with win after limiting the Gamecocks to one hit in 1.1 innings of work.

The Gamecocks used six pitchers in the season debut and handed the opening day start to junior Christian Edwards.  Edwards, making his first career start, went 3.2 innings and touched for four hits. He posted four strikeouts on the day as the six JSU combined for 12 strikeouts in the setback.  Isaiah Magwood, Colton Lewis, Camden Lovrich, Jackson Tavel and Trey Fortner all saw time out of the bullpen.

Offensively, JSU turned in eight hits, led by Frederick's pair of singles.  Junior Tanner Snow delivered a key RBI single in JSU's five-run seventh.  Snow, from Rainbow City, Alabama, spent two seasons at Shelton State Community College. Strachan had a single in the fifth inning.

Saturday's schedule will include SIU facing TTU to open the day at 11 a.m.  JSU will take on the Hornets of ASU at 2:30 p.m. TTU returns to action in the evening with a 6 p.m. start versus ASU.
Tickets are $10 a day and will be available one hour prior to the start of each day at the Jim Case Stadium box office.  JSU's contest with ASU will be available on RSPN+ while all three games can be followed via live state on JSUGamecockSPorts.com.

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