JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State baseball team dropped a 6-2 decision in front of the third largest crowd at Rudy Abbott Field at
Jim Case Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The three-plus year-old facility was filled with 1,566 fans on a beautiful, crisp Saturday afternoon in Jacksonville. The attendance figure is the third-highest in the renovated facility behind games against Alabama (2,033) and Auburn (1,882) during the 2019 season.
The crowd saw the Wildcats (2-0) take an early 4-0 cushion with two runs in each of the first two innings before the Gamecocks (0-2) held serve with six straight scoreless frames. UK touched Jax State freshman
Tanner Jones for the first four runs on six hits in his collegiate debut. Jones, from Thorsby, Alabama, went three innings before JSU went to the bullpen. Junior
Trevor Andrews, who came to JSU as position with experience on the mound, had his first mound appearance in a Gamecock uniform. Andrews settled the contest for two innings to keep JSU in the contest. He scattered three UK hits and tallied a pair of strikeouts.
For the second consecutive day, transfer
T.J. Reeves powered the JSU offense with his second home run in two games as a Gamecock. Reeves delivered a two-run home run in the fourth inning to get the Gamecocks back in the contest. After a two-hit debut on Friday, Reeves now has three hits on the season with two of them a long ball.
Junior
Isaiah Magwood continued to keep UK off the scoreboard and give JSU a chance to add runs. Magwood shook off a pair of UK singles in his first two innings to retire the side. He finished with a pair of strikeouts.
JSU had scoring opportunities in the sixth and eighth innings to produce runs, but UK avoided trouble in both frames. Senior
Alex Strachan started the sixth inning with a single and moved to third on
Brooks Bryan's first hit as a Gamecock with two down. UK's Darren Williams induced a ground ball out to stave off the JSU rally. In the eighth, JSU once again got the leadoff man on base with a triple from freshman
Brennen Norton. In two games, Norton has four hits in the Red and White. After a pair of strikeouts for Williams, Reeves was issued a walk before Bryan lifted a ball to the warning track in centerfield.
UK added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth to secure the series win.
The series concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m. Tickets are available online at JSUGamecockSports.com. All JSU students and fans 18 years old and younger are admitted for free. The finale of the series will be streamed on ESPN+.
