JACKSONVILLE - Jacksonville State hits the road for its first weekend away from Rudy Abbott Field at
Jim Case Stadium as it visits Southern Mississippi in a three-game series at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss.
The series begins on Friday with a 6 p.m. first pitch, followed by a 2 p.m. contest on Saturday. The series concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be available on C-USA.TV, a subscription-based streaming platform. Live stats will be available at JSUGamecockSport.com.
The Gamecocks' early season schedule does not get any easier with USM on the weekend docket. The Golden Eagles, an NCAA Regional mainstay, are coming off another NCAA Regional run from a season ago. USM took the Rebels of Ole Miss to the regional finals in Oxford in 2021. JSU opened the season with a season-opening series with Kentucky and traveled to Alabama last Tuesday. USM enters the weekend 3-1 after a sweep of North Alabama last weekend and an extra inning setback to South Alabama in the midweek.
This weekend's series between JSU and USM will be the second time the two programs have met in the regular season. Last season, USM claimed a the first-ever series over JSU on Rudy Abbott Field at
Jim Case Stadium. JSU blanked the Golden Eagles 6-0 in the series opener, but USM bounced back to win 6-0 on Saturday and 3-1 on Sunday. The Gamecocks and Golden Eagles have faced off against each other in NCAA Regionals. USM won both meetings in 2006 and 2010 postseason. Jax State dropped a 6-2 decision in an elimination game at the 2006 NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional. USM eliminated JSU, 19-6, in the 2010 NCAA Auburn Regional.
JSU will stick with its same pitching rotation from the season-opening weekend with sophomore
Reid Fagerstrom taking the mound in the series opener on Friday. Freshman
Tanner Jones will make hos second start of the season Saturday, followed by sophomore
Camden Lovrich will pitch in the Sunday finale. Fagerstrom and Lovrich had no decisions in their first appearance of the season. Fagerstrom turned in a career-high seven strikeouts against Kentucky on Opening day. Lovrich also had his longest outing on the mound as a Gamecock with five innings versus UK and allowing one unearned run.
Jacksonville State has had six players make their collegiate debut in the first week of the season, including five true freshmen seeing action early in the season. Highlighting the Gamecock rookies are third baseman
Brennen Norton and dual position player,
AJ Causey. Norton has secured his spot in the lineup at third base and has produced in all four games this season. The Cullman, Alabama native has six hits, including a double and a triple in 15 at bats. In his JSU debut against SEC foe Kentucky, he collected three hits and an RBI. Causey has started at first base and seen time on the mound. He was in the lineup on Opening Day against Kentucky (2/18) and had a two-run double in his first AB. On the mound, he had two appearances in the UK series. In the season opener, Causey, from Harvest, Ala., tossed the final 1.2 innings and collected three strikeouts.
Senior
Alex Strachan has started the 2022 season strong with six hits, three for extra bases. He shares the team lead in hits with Norton. Juniors
Brooks Bryan, T.J Reeves and
Carson Crowe all have four hits on the young season. Reeves and Crowe have two home runs through four games this season.
Following the weekend trip to the Magnolia State, Jax State will be idle until Saturday, March 5, hosting Siena. JSU and Siena will play a 3 p.m. doubleheader and closeout the three-game series on Sunday, March 6 at 1 p.m.
