JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State baseball team will have a busy week with back-to-back midweek games before being idle for the weekend as it will host Alabama State on Tuesday and visit Troy on Wednesday.

Both games are set for 6 p.m. Tickets for the ASU contest on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium are available at JaxStateSports.com. All Jax State students and fans 18 years old and younger are admitted free. Both in-state match ups will be available on ESPN+ and carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.

The Gamecocks will be looking to sweep the season set with the Hornets after extinguishing them in Montgomery, 16-4, on March 12. The last tome Jax State claimed both games of the season was during the 2021 season. After dropping an 18-10 slugfest to the Trojans to open the month of April, Jax State will be looking to snap six-game losing skid to Troy in Wednesday's visit.

Jax State (12-23) heads into the midweek action ready to get back on track before a rare weekend off during the season. With Conference USA having nine teams for the 2023 season, each team in the league has an open weekend from conference play. The Gamecocks dropped a road series at Liberty this past weekend and will begin the second half of the league slate on April 26-28 against New Mexico State. Jax State rallied in the ninth inning with three runs to post a 6-5 win over the Flames. ASU begins the week at 16-17 overall after a series win over Bethune-Cookman last weekend. The Trojans have been hot to start the month of April by winning 7-of-their-last-8 games and will travel to Samford on Tuesday night with a 25-12 overall record.

The home run ball has keyed the Jax State offense this season with 45 home runs in 35 games this season and ranks fourth in the league heading into the week. Dallas Baptist leads CUSA with 60, while Liberty and FIU have tallied 47 home runs on the season. Jax State is tied with its next league opponent – NMSU in home runs posted. The 45 home runs on the season matches the 2017 club's season mark. The last Gamecock squad to have 50-plus home runs on the season was the 2012 team that finished the season with 51. Junior Brennen Norton is listed second among CUSA hitters in home runs with 11 on the season.

The Gamecocks have also been aggressive on the base paths this season with 60 stolen bases on the season. That number ranks second in CUSA behind Sam Houston's 64 stolen bases on the season. Jax State is 11 stolen bases away from reaching the program's stole bases in a season chart. The 1993 and 1995 teams accumulated 71 stolen bases. Jax State matched its Division I mark for stolen bases in a game in Saturday's win at Liberty and were one off of the program's all-time mark for stolen bases in a single game. The Gamecocks turned in seven stolen bases, which was the most since 2010 against Tennessee Tech. Jax State enters the week ranked 40th in NCAA Division I baseball in stolen bases and 45th among NCAA Division I clubs in stolen bases per game at 1.71.

Jax State's Drew Collins and Will Fincher share the conference lead in stolen bases with 14 each. The duo is a combined 28-of-28 on the base paths.

After the ASU and Troy outings this week, the Gamecocks return to action next week at UAB on Tuesday, April 23.