FORT MEYERS, Fla. – Senior Isaac Alexander went 4-for-5 and drove in half of Jacksonville State's runs in the opening game of the 2022 ASUN Baseball Championship as the Gamecocks got off to a great start in pool play with an 8-4 win early Wednesday morning over Jacksonville at Swanson Stadium on the FGCU campus.

Jax State returns to the diamond around 12 hours later with a seventh match up with Eastern Kentucky at 12:30 p.m. EST/11:30 a.m. CST at JetBlue Park, the spring training facility of the Boston Res Sox. The game will be carried on the Gamecock Sports Network and streamed on ESPN+.

The final game of the day at Swanson Stadium was delayed due to the length of the second game of the day between Lipscomb and Kennesaw State. The game featured a pair of lightning delays and an offensive show with the Bisons rallying in the ninth with six runs to walk off the Owls, 12-10. JSU and JU did not get started until 9:54 p.m. EST.

The Gamecocks rallied from a 1-0 deficit with a three-run fourth and added to the lead with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. Senior Alex Strachan posted the first of two RBI for him with a single in the fourth followed by Alexander's RBI double. Senior Javier Ramirez laid down a sacrifice bunt for the third run of the frame off of JU starter Mason Adams.

Alexander, who now has a team-best 11 multi-RBI games this season, extended the JSU lead with the second of three doubles in the late night to push it to a 5-1 game. It was his second four-hit game of the season.

The Dolphins started to chip away at the four-run deficit with three runs in fifth. JU strung together four hits in the frame to make it a one-run contest.

Nursing a one-run lead, Strachan recorded his second RBI with a ground out before Alexander registered a two-out RBI single. Senior Tanner Snow gave JSU an insurance run with a two-out RBI base hit.

Four JSU pitchers combined to scatter seven HU hits and collected eight strikeouts. JSU starter Dylan Hathcock, who has pitched well in postseason starts going back to the 2019 season in the OVC Tournament Championship run and in the 2019 NCAA Oxford Regional, went 4.2 innings before junior Trey Fortner pitched a pair of innings. A pair of freshmen pitchers closed out the contest with Tanner Jones going 0.2 innings before AJ Causey closed out the game to earn his ninth save of the season and seven against ASUN competition. Hathcock notched another win in the postseason.

Senior Cole Frederick, who was named to the All-ASUN First Team earlier on Tuesday, extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a single in the game and has now reached base in the last 25 games. Junior T.J. Reeves, another all-conference honoree with a spot on the All-ASUN Second Team, had two hits in the win.