LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Jax State scored in all but one inning on Saturday to knock off the Bellarmine Knights, 10-1, in the first of three road games this weekend.
The win moved the Gamecocks (17-9) to a 4-0 start in ASUN Conference play, while BU remains in search of its first league win of the season.
With a season-high 12 strikeouts, freshman
Jaliyah Holmes has now registered double-double strikeouts in each of her last two starts. After a couple of walks in the first frame put the Knights in scoring position, Holmes made quick work the rest of the way during her four-hitter allowing just one run on a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh.
By the time BU notched the first run of the afternoon, Jax State had all but locked down its sixth-straight victory scoring runs in six different innings offensively behind Holmes's pitching gem.
Emma Jones opened the day's scoring with a blast to left field for her first home run as a Gamecock. Her first and only other long ball came against East Tennessee State as a freshman with Appalachian State. The solo homer was the first of three round-trippers Jax State, and the first of two RBI for Jones.
After a quiet third, Jones made her way across the plate a second time on an RBI groundout by
Linley Tubbs for a 2-0 advantage. From there, the runs mounted for the Red and White with two in the fourth on a double by
Ashley Phillips and two more to follow in the fifth on a two-run shot off the bat of
Morgan Nowakowski. The line drive homer was the first of her career for the Huntsville, Ala., and Buckhorn High School product.
The second RBI hit of the day for Jones made it 7-0 in the sixth, but JSU wouldn't stop there tacking on a 3-spot to opening the seventh led by
Camryn McLemore's home run. In pinch-hitting roles,
Brantly Bonds go aboard with a single and
Ella Pate took a hit-by-pitch, before
Hannah Brown stepped in the vox to shoot a ball through the right side that sent Bonds home to score. Pate later way her way in from third on a throwing error for a 10-0 lead.
Bonds, Jones, Phillips and Nowakowski all finished with a multi-hit game as JSU flexed its offensive strength receiving just one RBI from its top three hitters entering the weekend.
The two teams returns to action at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT on Sunday to begin a doubleheader.
