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Box Score 2 MOREHEAD, Ky. – Jacksonville State split a Monday doubleheader with Morehead State to cap a three-game series with the host Eagles.
Hits were few and far between for both sides during Monday's twinbill. JSU (19-21, 17-11 Ohio Valley Conference) evenly split six hits across both contests, taking a slim 1-0 win in game one of the day, before a 3-0 setback in the finale. The Eagles (11-24, 3-20 OVC) registered just seven hits on Monday.
Senior
Nicole Rodriguez shined in the circle for the Gamecocks in game one. The Fort Myers, Fla., native, received just one run from her offense late in the ballgame, but it was all she required for her sixth win of the season after suffocating the MSU offense all day.
Rodriguez struck out 11 and allowed just two hits as she breezed through the Eagle lineup with a gem of a performance. After MSU picked up its final hit in the third inning, Rodriguez retired 12 straight batters before issuing a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh. It was her first walk allowed all game, but a strikeout to the following batter capped the 1-0 win after JSU took the lead in the top of the seventh.
Ellie Largen pinch ran for
Megan Fortner who drew a walk to begin the inning. Largen advanced to third on a double by
Sidney Wagnon, and came home during a fielder's choice off the bat of
Keeli Bobbitt.
The Gamecock fortunes weren't as positive in the second game of the day as Rodriguez returned to the circle looking to build off her earlier momentum. An error behind her allowed the MSU leadoff hitter to reach to open the bottom of the first, after hitting the second batter, an infield single loaded the bases for the Eagles without an out. MSU scored two on a single down the right field line on the next at-bat, before JSU began to regain control. Rodriguez retired the next three hitters, but a sac fly to center field plates MSU's third run of the inning.
Rodriguez would go 2.2 innings in the second game, being lifted for
Alexus Jimmerson in the third who would finish the final 3.1 frames. Jimmerson struck out five and allowed three hits and no runs throughout the rest of the contest, however the Gamecock offense could never recover from the early deficit.
JSU spread three hits across seven innings against MSU's Lennon Spicer, but failed to plate a run in the 3-0 setback in the final game of the series.
JSU takes another road trip next weekend to Tennessee State for its final three-game road set of the season.
