ATLANTA, Ga. – Junior
Austin Cornelius tossed a complete game and junior
Drew Collins delivered Jacksonville Stater the lead en route to a 10-5 win over Georgia State at the GSU Baseball Complex on Tuesday afternoon.
Cornelius' complete game was the first for a Gamecock since the 2018 season. Former Jax State pitcher Colton Pate turned in a complete game shutout against Southeast Missouri in the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama.
The righty from Hoover, Alabama flirted with a complete game against Iowa on March 10, but left the game in the ninth inning after a leadoff walk. On Tuesday, Cornelius entered the last frame with a comfortable 10-2 lead before the Panthers scored three two-out runs. After a visit to the mound from head coach Steve Bieser, Cornelius record the final out with a ground ball to second base.
Cornelius had a stress-free outing after Collins gave him a 4-1 lead to work with after a three-run blast in the second inning. He posted seven ground ball outs and induced six fly ball outs. After a two-out RBI in the first for GSU, Cornelius did not allow a run until a solo home run in the fourth inning. He finished the outing with four strikeouts and walked just one Panther.
While Cornelius was keeping the Panthers off the scoreboard, his offense was extending the lead throughout the contest. Jax State pushed the lead to 6-2 in the fifth inning with a
Matthew Albritton fielder's choice RBI and a sacrifice fly by
Will Fincher.
Jax State broke the game open in the ninth with the four runs, highlighted by a two-run single by junior
Brennen Norton.
Norton led the Gamecocks with three hits on the day. The Cullman, Alabama native has four consecutive games with multiple hits after having a pair of hits in all three games last weekend against New Mexico State. Junior
Logan Walters laid down an RBI bunt single, scoring sophomore
Bear Madliak, who started the inning with a triple. Collins collected his fourth RBI with a bases-loaded walk in the lengthy last inning.
The Gamecocks will return to Conference USA play this weekend with a trip to the state of Texas to face Dallas Baptist. The series with the Patriots will get started on Friday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m. The series continues on Saturday at 2 p.m. and will wrap up with Sunday's 1 p.m. first pitch. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ and carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.
