JACKSONVILLE - Jacksonville State will travel to the Bluegrass State for its first ASUN road test with a three-game series against Bellarmine.
Due to the forecast for Friday, the series was pushed back to Saturday with a doubleheader to played at the University of Louisville's Jim Patterson Stadium. The Saturday twinbill will get started at 12 p.m. CST. The two clubs will return to BU's Knights Field for Sunday's series finale at 12 p.m. CST. All three games will be aired on the Gamecock Sports Network.
Jax State (10-11, 3-0) will be looking to get back in the win column after having its six-game winning streak halted by Alabama State on Tuesday. The Knights enter the weekend 7-14 overall and 2-1 in the ASUN after claiming a road series last weekend at Eastern Kentucky. Jax State has won eight consecutive ASUN games dating back to the final two games of the Central Arkansas series and a sweep of BU in the final series of the 2022 season. Since joining the ASUN prior to the 2022 season, the Gamecocks have won eight-of-the-11 weekend series, including three straight series (UCA, Bellarmine, Queens).
The Gamecocks and Knights will meet for the third time in two seasons as the two clubs played six times last season in a home-and-home format. Jacksonville State won five of the six games with Bellarmine claiming a 4-3 decision on April 15 in Jacksonville. The Gamecocks trip to Louisville, Kentucky makes it two straight trips in ASUN play to the same city as JSU wrapped up the 2022 league schedule at Bellarmine. Jax state swept BU an clinched a bid to the 2022 ASUN Baseball Tournament in the process. The Gamecocks routed the Knight 12-1 in the Thursday opener and claimed the series on Friday with a 7-2 decision. JSU wrapped up the regular season with a 9-3 win.
It all begins with starting pitching for the Gamecocks. Over the span of the last eight games, Jax State has started strong on the mound. Going back to the pair of wins over South Alabama, a win over Ole Miss, the first ASUN series with Queens and Tuesday's ASU contest, JSU starters have accumulated an earned run average of 1.54 over 41.0 innings-pitched, allowed 27 hits, seven runs-all earned. The starters have recorded 42 strikeouts, issued just 10 walks and the opposition is hitting .185.
Sophomore
AJ Causey, who earned his first start of his career last year in the regular season finale against the Knights, tallied Jax State;s first complete game since 2018 with a seven-inning outing in a 14-1 run-rule win last week. Sophomore
Tanner Jones has put together back-to-back outings without issuing a walk against South Alabama and Queens. Freshman
Eli Zielinski has collected four wins in the Sunday slot.
Junior
Mason Maners has put together a string of 33 straight games of reaching base, which dates back to the last 12 games of the 2023 season. In the 21 games this season, he has reached base 43 total times. Over the last 33 games, Maners has hit in 27-of-the-33 games and has two or more hits in 14 of the 33 games dating back to the Eastern Kentucky series last season. Maners' streak ranks fourth in the country behind Brandon Comia of Illinois' 57-game on-base streak spanning the last two seasons.
The Gamecocks enter the second weekend of conference play with a lofty .429 batting average against league competition after accumulating 48 hits in the opening weekend against Queens. The JSU pitching staff also combined for a 1.80 earned run average in the three games with the Royals.
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