JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State started hot with six runs in the first inning to cruise to a 10-2 win over Queens to sweep the opening weekend of ASUN baseball action on Sunday afternoon at Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.

The Gamecocks (10-10) won their sixth in a row and posted a 4-0 week with its Tuesday win over third-ranked Ole Miss. Jax State put a wrap on its 12-game homestand and finished with a 7-5 mark over the first three weeks of March. Jax State now hits the road for the next five games, starting with a Tuesday trip to Montgomery to face Alabama State. The Gamecocks will travel to Louisville, Kentucky next weekend for its first road test within the ASUN with a three-game set with Bellarmine.

After the Royals took their first lead of the weekend with a run in the top half of the first inning, the Gamecocks sent 11 hitters to the plate against Queens' starter Zach Kelly and scored five runs before the first out of the inning was recorded. Jax State turned in five of its 11 hits on the day in the inning, highlighted by a two-run double from freshman outfielder Will Fincher. Junior Mason Maners had the first RBI of the day and wasted little time getting the extension of his on-base streak out of the way with a run-scoring single. Maners has now reached base 32 straight games dating back to the last 12 games of last season. The streak ranks third-best in NCAA Division I Baseball through Saturday's action. Junior Digo Gines and freshman Michael Dallas had RBI in the lengthy first inning.

Fincher, from Powder Springs, Georgia, was inserted into the right field spot for the weekend series and took advantage of the opportunity at the plate and defensively. He finished Sunday's contest 3-for-4 and reached base four times and delivered three RBI. He added his third RBI of the day with a single in the fifth inning. He also swiped a bag and had a pair of putouts defensively. Fincher joins Maners and Reeves with double figure games of reaching bases consecutively with 10 straight games. Maners and Reeves have reached base in all 20 games this season.
Senior Carson Crowe extended the Jax State lead with an RBI single in the third before the Gamecocks added three runs in the fifth inning. He finished with a a pair of hits in the series finale. The Gamecocks took advantage of a pair of fielding hiccups by the Royals in the three-run fifth.

Freshman catcher Bear Madliak started the JSU's big first inning with a leadoff double. He would add another hit in the fifth inning. Since moving to the leadoff spot seven games ago, Madliak has collected 17 hits and been on base 19 times.

The run support led freshman Eli Zielinski to work his way through five-plus innings to move to 4-0 on the season in the Sunday slot. Zielinski scattered four hits by the Royals and allowed a pair of runs. He finished with four strikeouts. Senior Trey Fortner and junior Reid Fagerstrom pitched a pair of inning each to close out the game.

For the weekend, the Gamecocks hit .429 with 48 total hits, including 12 extra base hits which led to 30 runs in the three-game set. The Jax State pitching staff produced an earned run average of 1.80 on the weekend and accumulated 18 strikeouts on the weekend and just seven walks. In the four games this week, Jax State collaborated to hit .412 with 61 hits and scoring 40 runs. The Gamecocks' pitching staff finished the week with a 2.91 ERA with 32 strikeouts.

Tuesday's road outing at the Watkins Wheeler Baseball Complex is set for 6 p.m. The game will be available on the Gamecock Sports Network. Live video will also be available via a link on JSUGamecockSports.com.