HOMEWOOD – Jax State closed out its non-conference slate on Tuesday night with an 8-4 road win over Samford.
The Gamecocks (28-19) snapped a five-game skid with the win over its in-state rivals and looks to carry the momentum into the final weekend of ASUN Conference play at Austin Peay. The final three games of the regular season will be vital in determining JSU's seeding in the eight-team conference tournament next week.
On Tuesday, freshman
Jaliyah Holmes picked up her 16th win of the year after striking out six in six innings and scattering seven hits for just two earned runs. The 16 wins matches teammate
Kat Carter's mark from last season as Holmes becomes the 17th Gamecock pitcher all-time to reach 16 wins in a season from the circle. Sophomore
Sarah Currie came in to close the game in the seventh. Three quick Bulldog doubles added two final runs for SU before Currie finished the afternoon with consecutive strikeouts.
The Gamecocks struck early with leadoff batters
Emma Jones and
Lauren Hunt getting aboard and quickly scoring on a sharply hit ball off the bat of
Morgan Nowakowski for a two-run lead in the opening inning. Jones would come around and score again in the third inning on a single to center by
Lindsey Richardson.
Linley Tubbs padded the lead in the same frame with a 2-RBI double to bring Nowakowski and
Brantly Bonds across the plate for a 5-1 advantage.
Before scoring in the frame, Jones stole second after an early hit in inning. The steal marked her 32nd of the season setting a new Jax State single-season record surpassing Lisa Smith's 31 steals in 1993 during JSU's Division II era.
Bonds and Tubbs scored again in the fifth inning on hits by
Ashley Phillips and
Abbi Perkins as part of a balanced lineup that saw eight batters contribute to 11 total hits. Perkins and Nowakowski each went 2-for-3 with two RBI, while Tubbs drove in a pair as well on 2-for-4 batting.
JSU returns home briefly before returing to the road to face APSU in an earlier Friday-Saturday series to end the regular season.
