JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State suffered its first loss of the season on Sunday afternoon, falling to visiting Buffalo, 7-5, to close out the opening weekend of play.
A sloppy start for the Gamecocks (3-1) led to an eventual five errors, opening the door for Buffalo (1-3) to register its first win of the season.
In all four games this weekend, Jax State rolled out a different starting pitcher to the circle testing its pitching depth from the get-go. Freshman
Jordan Eslinger took the ball on Sunday, but a hit batter to start the game began a rough outing for the Douglasville, Ga., native. She struck out seven during her 4.2 innings of work, but also got tagged for six hits and a trio of walks that allowed the Bulls to be in position to capitalize when JSU made mistakes in the field.
Buffalo suffered their share of miscues as well, tallying four total, as both teams dealt with a strong breeze on a chilly day. Through two innings, UB's mistakes allowed JSU to grab a 2-1 lead, but the Bulls jumped back on top in the third with a pair of runs on a two-out shallow liner to right that
Hannah Buffington was unable to cover the distance for to catch.
Buffalo added another pair in both the fourth and fifth innings to lead 7-2, before
Hannah Brown came in to pitch in relief for the final 2.1 frames. Brown collected a strikeout, but more importantly settled things down for UB offensively allowing just one hit and no additional runs.
Senior
Holly Stewart, who hit a walk-off sac fly the day before, entered defensively in the fifth to bring stability to a struggling infield. In the sixth, her first at-bat of the day resulted in a two-run home run to pull the Gamecocks within striking distance heading to the seventh.
Ella Pate led off the final inning with a single and came around to score on
Lindsey Richardson's roller through the right side, but that was all JSU could scratch across before the third and final out.
The Gamecocks travel to Hattiesburg, Miss., next weekend where they are scheduled to play SIU-Edwardsville, Tulsa, Alcorn State and tournament host, Southern Miss.
