DELAND, Fla. – Jacksonville State's run in the 2023 ASUN Baseball Championship came to a halt in a slugfest semifinal on Saturday with a 14-10 loss to Florida Gulf Coast at Stetson's Melching Field at Conrad Park.

The Eagles and Gamecocks combined for 24 runs and 25 hits, including 16 of those runs through three. 3.5 innings. After FGCU started strong with its powerful lineup and eight runs through five innings, Jax State orchestrated its biggest rally of the season with an eight-run fourth inning. The Gamecocks sent 11 hitters to the plate and collected six of their 12 hits in the inning.

After four runs had already crossed the dish with two RBI from Brennen Norton, senior Carson Crowe and junior Mason Maners, senior T.J. Reeves capped off the monumental run-producing frame with his third grand slam of the season and fourth of his career. The Birmingham, Alabama native finished the day with three hits, including a single and a double. Reeves, a First Team All-ASUN pick this season finished the season with 76 hits and 75 RBI.

After FGCU connected on its third of four home runs in the contest to answer JSU's leveling of the contest in the home half of the fourth, the Gamecocks had one more rally left in them. Freshman Caleb Johnson opened the sixth inning with a double and scored on a wild pitch that allowed Maners to reach base. Jax State took the lead on Derrick Jackson, Jr.'s single through the left side, scoring Maners. Jackson paced the Gamecocks offensively with eight hits in the four games in the ASUN Baseball Championship. The Huntsville, Alabama native drove in seven runs and had a pair of home runs in his stay in Central Florida.

After the Eagles roughed up Jax State starter AJ Causey, senior Trey Fortner cooled off the hot FGCU bats for two frames before running into trouble in the seventh as the fourth home run of the day by the Fort Meyers, Florida-based club took the lead that it would not relinquish.

Senior Jarrett Eaton, playing for the final time in Red and White, posted a pair of hits, while junior Javon Hernandez and Bear Madliak added a hits. Hernandez, an All-ASUN Second Team performer in 2023, finished his first season with the program with a .397 batting average after accumulating 89 hits in the season.

Saturday's semifinal also capped off Jax State's two-year stay in the ASUN as Gamecock athletics will being a new era as members of Conference USA beginning on July 1.