CARBONDALE, Ill. – Jacksonville State evened the series against Southern Illinois with a 9-6 win on Saturday afternoon at Itchy Jones Stadium.
The Gamecocks (9-9) bounced-back after a tough setback on Friday night, 7-6, in extra innings to the Salukis (12-6). The two clubs will play a series-deciding rubber match on Sunday at 1 p.m.
On a blustery day at the park, the Gamecocks used three home runs on the day to highlight the offensive output and the bottom part of the order drove in five runs to bolster the lineup production. Jax State has now hit three home runs in two of the four games this week with a trio of dingers last Tuesday night at Alabama State. Jax State pounded out 10 hits on the afternoon, including six extra base hits.
Jax State opened the scoring with a two-run home run by junior
Logan Walters, who has registered nine hits in four games this week, put the Gamecocks on the scoreboard in the second inning. After SIU answered with a pair of runs off of starter
Jackson Sleeper, Jax State took a lead it would not relinquish with junior
Brennen Norton's two-run blast in the third inning. Jax State continued with pushing runs across the plate with two more in the fourth on a
Sam Silas productive out and a
Bear Madliak RBI single. Silas finished with three RBI on the day with a two-run single in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 8-3.
Pitching with a lead, Sleeper turned in one of his best outings of the season with a career-high 4.0 innings of work and matching his career strikeout mark of seven that he set in his first appearance of the season against Memphis. Senior
Kyle Chastine was the first of four arms used out of the bullpen on Saturday. The Tuscaloosa, Alabama native pitched a complete inning with a pair of runs by SIU. He picked up the win in relief. With an SIU lineup full of lefthanders, Jax State used most of its leftys with freshman
Colin Woodham and junior
Ethan Adkison to close it out. Adkison recorded his second save of the season.
The Gamecocks added an insurance run in the ninth with the third home run of the contest as senior
Derrick Jackson, Jr. had a two-out solo blast. Walters, Madliak and
Drew Collins all had multiple hits on the day. In the first two games of the series, Collins has five hits and three RBI, including a double and a home run.
Sunday's weekend finale will be carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.
