JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State turned in a combined no-hitter to complete the sweep of Tennessee Tech on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Gamecocks blanked the Golden Eagles 8-0 in the first game of the twinbill and capped off the weekend with a 5-0 decision. Junior Colin Casey, redshirt junior Jackson Tavel and senior Corley Woods combined to no-hit TTU in the finale. It's the first combined no hitter for JSU since the 2018 season. The trio of Colton Pate, Grant Chandler and Trent Simpson turned in a no-hitter effort against Radford at Choccolocco Park on February 24.

The sweep help erase a tough opening weekend at Murray State for the Gamecocks last weekend as they improved to 11-11 overall and 4-2 in OVC play. TTU falls to 9-9 on the season and 4-5 in conference games. JSU will host Samford on Tuesday, March 30 to close out the month before traveling to Southeast Missouri next weekend. JSU has posted two consecutive series sweeps over TTU after sweeping the three-game series in 2019. Jax State has won the series with the Golden Eagles in four out of the last five seasons.

The back-to-back shutouts are the first in JSU history since the 1995 season after two straight shutouts of Central Wesleyan. The first shutout on Saturday was the first time that TTU had been held scoreless in a game since March 28, 2017 versus Tennessee.

Casey, from Jacksonville, Alabama, turned in a career day on the mound with eight innings of work and compiling a new career mark for strikeouts with seven. Tavel recorded a pair of strikeouts before Woods finished off the no hitter with the final 1.1. The trip combined for 12 strikeouts and only six Golden Eagles reached base with the six walks issued by JSU. TTU did not have a runner reach third base in the loss.

The JSU offense gave Casey just enough of a cushion to work with in the first inning and expanded the lead in the fourth inning. Senior Jaylyn Williams delivered a two-run home run in the first inning for the cushion. JSU hit four home runs on the weekend against TTU pitching.

Jax State had three consecutive RBI in the fourth inning to expand the lead. Sophomore Carson Crowe, junior Javier Ramirez and senior Tre Kirklin all pushed runs across the dish in the inning.

In the opening game, JSU's pitching was the storyline along with the offensive production from redshirt junior Alex Carignan. Redshirt junior Dylan Hathcock baffled Tech hitters for eight innings and scattered five hits in the opener. It was the longest outing of his career and he established a new career high for strikeouts with seven. Redshirt sophomore Trey Fortner finished the game with a strikeout and a walk. On Saturday alone JSU hurlers accumulated 20 strikeouts and  fanned 30 on the weekend after 10 on Friday night.

Carignan put together a four-hit, three RBI day in game one of the day. The catcher delivered an RBI on two RBI singles and a two-run double in the seventh. He was one of six Gamecocks to have multiple hits in the contest. As a team, the Gamecocks pounded out 17 hits, matching their outing last Saturday against the Racers in a 16-11 win.

Junior Alex Strachan turned in three hits in the contest while the first four hitters in the JSU line up had two hits each – junior Cole Frederick, redshirt sophomore Nash Adams, senior Alex Webb and Williams.

The in0state battle with the Bulldogs of Samford will get started at 6 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+ and carried on the Gamecock Sports Network. Tickets are available online at JSUGamecockSports.com. All JSU students and fans 18 years old and younger are admitted free.