MIAMI – Sparked by
Morgan Nowakowski's home run, Jax State broke through for five extra-inning runs in the eighth on Friday night to eventually put away Florida International, 6-4, at Felsburg Field.
The extra-inning victory was the second-straight for Jax State (19-24, 8-8 CUSA) which took another eight-inning win on the road at UTEP on March 29. That game likewise featured a go-ahead blast by Nowakowski.
Friday's meeting was just the second all-time against the Panthers (16-25, 4-12 CUSA), after the two schools met in a non-conference tournament in 2001.
Junior
Kat Carter tossed her eighth complete game of the season allowing seven hits and one earned run across the eight frames. She found herself in a 1-1 dual for most of the night, sitting the Panthers down in order in the bottom of the seventh when FIU just needed one run for a walk-off win.
Makalyn Kyser provided the first run of the night with a second-inning single to left that scored
Linley Tubbs who doubled prior to that. FIU evened the score with a run in the third leading to the stalemate that proceeded the next four frames.
The Gamecocks left 11 stranded total for the game, including go-ahead runners on third base in both the sixth and seventh inning.
Once in the eighth, Nowakowski finally got the Gamecocks back on top with one swing of the bat. Her solo shot to right field was the Huntsville, Ala., native's fifth round-tripper of the season and opened the flood gates for the rest of the Jax State offense.
Hannah Buffington, who entered earlier in the game for
Megan Rasmussen, was hit by a pitch to reach first. She advanced to second and third on back-to-back singles by Kyser and
Ella Pate. With full bases,
Kenzie Nicholson singled home a run before
Ashley Phillips drew an RBI walk to make it 4-1.
Lindsey Richardson then reached on an error as another run came home ahead of Tubbs' RBI walk as the Gamecocks batted around the lineup.
The 5-run inning swung momentum to the visiting Gamecocks, but FIU didn't go away lightly. The Panthers loaded the bases with two outs and eventually brought three runs home courtesy of a wild pitcher, an error and a double-steal play. But the comeback fail short as Carter got the final batter to fly out to center.
The two teams meet again on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET/3 CT.
