ATHENS, Ga. – One day after a disappointing shutout, Jax State fought back to push the seventh-ranked team in the country to the limits on Sunday before falling 8-6 at Georgia.
The Gamecocks (9-15) out-hit the Bulldogs (19-3) by a 9-8 margin, but Jax State left eight runners stranded on the bases.
Emma Jones-Hubbard had three of Jax State's nine hits from her leadoff spot in the lineup and came around to score each time. In the first inning, she raced home on
Morgan Nowakowski's two-out liner back up the middle off the UGA pitcher to give the Gamecocks a 1-0 advantage.
Junior
Kat Carter started for Jax State in the circle. She escaped a jam in the first to keep the Bulldogs off the board, but was relieved in the second inning after a couple more dogs reached base. With junior
Sarah Currie in the circle, UGA slowly stacked the bases setting up for two crushing blows. A bases-clearing double in the second and a three-run homer in the third put six Georgia runs on the board in just two swings.
Once falling behind 3-1, Jones-Hubbard and
Emma Elrod went to work on erasing that deficit with hits to begin the top of the third. Elrod scored Jones-Hubbard with a double and Nowakowski eventually brought Elrod home on a sacrifice fly to right.
UGA would add the three-run homer in the bottom of the frame to retake the lead and then lift a two-run shot out to center in the fifth to make it an 8-3 game but the Gamecocks didn't pack it in for the weekend.
An
Amber Reed single to start the sixth later turned into Reed crossing the plate when Elrod drew a bases-loaded walk.
Lindsey Richardson following with an infield hit that was mishandled at third alloing two more runs to come home as Jax State cut the deficit to 8-6.
UGA resorted back to Saturday's shutout pitcher for the final seventh inning as the Gamecocks were unable to complete the comeback. Even with the two setbacks to top-10 Georgia, the Gamecocks finish 2-2 for the weekend at Jack Turner Stadium after wins over Miami (OH) and Furman to begin the tournament.
Jax State heads to Samford for a midweek contest on Wednesday night in Homewood, Ala.
