JACKSONVILLE – After securing its first Conference USA series last weekend at home, Jacksonville State will be looking to convert that momentum into a series win on the road with a visit to Liberty this weekend.

The series with the Flames, who are the front runners of CUSA after three full weekends of league action, begins on Friday with a 5 p.m. first pitch on Friday. The series continues at LU's Worthington Field at Liberty Stadium on Saturday with a 3 p.m. CT start time. Sunday's series wrap up is slated to start at 12 p.m. CT. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ and carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.

Jax State claimed a series over FIU last weekend at Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium with an 18-7 win on Friday and a 4-3, extra-inning result. The Gamecocks dropped the Sunday finale and Wednesday's midweek affair to Georgia State. The Flames turned in a series win at New Mexico State last weekend by claiming the first two games of the weekend. LU faltered in the midweek against Virginia Tech on Wednesday.

Jax State and LU will be meeting for just the second time even though the two programs were previous members of the ASUN. Jax State is making a return trip to Lynchburg after playing at LU last season as members of the ASUN. The Gamecocks and Flames did not face each other in the 2022 season due to the conference schedule format. The Flames claimed the series last year after claiming a Sunday win over the Gamecocks. The Gamecocks posted an 11-4 win over LU in the first-ever meeting. The Flames bounced-back to even the series, 13-3, on Saturday.

The home run ball has keyed the Jax State offense this season with 42 home runs in 32 games so far this season and ranks third in the league heading into the week. Dallas Baptist leads CUSA with 59, while Jax State's weekend foe, Liberty, is listed second with 42 home runs on the season. The 42 home runs is the most by a Jax State club since the 2017 season in which the Gamecocks hit 45 on the season. Junior Brennen Norton has tallied 10 home runs this season to lead the Gamecocks and ranks third in the league.

After helping Jax State secure a CUSA series, senior Derrick Jackson, Jr. was named the CUSA Hitter of the Week. Jackson led a Jax State offense that produced 42 runs for the week and collecting a pair of wins over FIU.  He highlighted a 13-run inning by the Gamecocks in Friday's 18-7, seven-inning win over the Panthers. He produced five RBI in that inning with a double and a home run and finished Friday 3-for-4 with all three hits for extra bases in the series opener. Jackson added two more hits and five RBI in Sunday's finale, including a first inning grand slam. His run production started with a pair of RBI against Troy. In the four games last week, Jackson went 7-for-19 (.368) with five of those seven hits for extra bases. He posted an on-base percentage of .400 and a slugging mark of .842. He posted his 10th multi-hit game of the season with a pair of hits on Wednesday against GSU.

Jax State will be looking for another solid weekend from its starting pitching. Against FIU, the trio of starters compiled an earned run average of 2.87 over a span of 15.2 innings of work and allowed just seven runs-five earned runs. Senior will Baker turned in a career outing last Friday with 6.0 innings and six strikeouts to establish new career marks in innings worked and strikeouts. Sophomore Jackson Sleeper went 6.0 innings with five strikeouts. Junior Austin Cornelius went 3.2 innings before handing it over to the bullpen. Baker will start Friday's series opener with LU, followed by Sleeper in Saturday's contest. The Gamecocks will send junior Colby Morse in Sunday's match up.