JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State baseball team dropped its first ASUN conference weekend series of the season with a 6-4 loss to Kennesaw State in a series-deciding contest on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium on Sunday.

The Owls bounced-back from falling 11-4 in the series opener to win on back-to-back days to get back to 13-13 overall and 5-4 in the league. Jax State dropped to 14-14 on the season and 7-2 in the ASUN.

For the second consecutive game, KSU rallied against the JSU bullpen with a two-run sixth inning to erase a 3-2 deficit and added a pair of critical insurance runs in the eighth inning. Jax State's starting pitching throughout the weekend kept the Owls off track for the most part as freshman Eli Zielinski battled for 5.0 innings and exited with a lead before handing over the duties to the bullpen. Zielinski matched his career high in strikeouts with nine in the contest and allowed four hits by the Owls and two runs.

In the three games, the Gamecocks' starters covered 17.1 of the 27 innings and allowed nine hits and two earned runs. The trio of sophomore AJ Causey, sophomore Tanner Jones and Zielinski posted an earned run average of 1.04 on the weekend and collected 32 strikeouts. Causey matched his career best in strikeouts with another 12 on Friday night, while Jones established a new strikeout mark with 11 on Saturday.

After KSU touched Zielinski for a run in the third inning, the Gamecocks answered with a pair of runs. Junior Javon Hernandez and senior T.J. Reeves delivered back-to-back RBI singles to hand their pitcher a lead. The Owls manufactured a run after a leadoff walk to equalize in the fourth inning.

Reeves, who had a pair of RBI and three hits on Saturday, added his second RBI of the day with a ground rule double that hurt Jax State's chances for a big inning. The Birmingham, Alabama native finished 6-for-12 on the weekend with seven RBI.

After one out in the sixth inning, the Gamecocks opened the door for the Owls to have a run-scoring frame. A miscue on the infield and a walk issued by senior Trey Fortner, Tyler Franks, who started as the designated hitter, but pitched two clean innings to pick up the win in relief, singled for an RBI, followed by a productive second out RBI by Jamarie Brooks.

KSU nursed the one-run lead until a leadoff walk and a double scored on an RBI single from Chris Cole. Sophomore Austin Cornelius finished the final 1.2 innings with one hit allowed and a strikeout.

The two runs surrendered in the eighth was big as junior Derrick Jackson, Jr. started the Gamecocks' last chance with a solo home run over the left field fence. The home run was his third of the season and first of the year on the home turf.

The Gamecocks will have a short week due to the holiday weekend as they travel to Jacksonville, Florida to face the Ospreys of North Florida. The series will start on Thursday evening at 5:05 p.m. CST. The series will be carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.