LYNCHBURG, Va. – Jacksonville State remained alive in the 2025 Conference USA Baseball Championship by eliminating Louisiana Tech, 7-6, on Friday night on Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium.

After dropping a tough 2-1 pitcher's duel on Thursday to Dallas Baptist, the Gamecocks bounced-back with a come-from-behind win to get another shot against the top-seeded Patriots on Saturday. Jax State and DBU will face off for the second time in the tournament at 11:30 a.m. CT. Jax State will need to knock off DBU twice to reach the championship on Sunday.

The Gamecocks improved to 35-24 on the season, the most wins in a season since the 2019 club finished with 39 wins after a trip to the NCAA Oxford (Miss.) Regional.

It was the Gamecocks' pair of seniors that delivered a game-tying RBI triple and go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning. Drew Collins laced a two-out RBI triple to deep centerfield to even the contest at 6-6. Collins would score on Carson Hornung's double that landed inches inside the left field line.

That moment for the pair of seniors in an effort to extend the season was set up in the LA Tech half of the seventh by freshman Maddox McDougall. With a pair of Bulldogs already on base, McDougall hit the first batter he faced to load up the bases. The rookie righty induced a pair of fielders choices with outs at the plate and a fly ball to Collins to end LA Tech's opportunity to extend a 6-5 lead.

McDougall breezed through the eighth inning after being handed a one-run advantage. He worked around a lead off single by the Bulldogs in the ninth and stranded the tying run at third base. Both teams struggled with connecting on key hits throughout the contest as they combined for 29 runners left on base.

Similar to the opening round meeting between the two programs, it was a back-and-forth contest in the first four innings. Jax State plated the first run of the night in the first inning, while the Bulldogs answered with three runs in the second inning. Jax State would answer with a pair of runs in the second. They traded single runs in the third before LA Tech posted a pair of in the fourth. Jax State sliced the lead down to 6-5 in the fourth inning.

Collins has recorded four hits in Jax State's championship run, including two of the triples produced by the Gamecocks. Junior Brady Thomas had two of Jax State's five doubles against Bulldog pitching and a pair of RBI. Sophomore Sam Silas delivered a pair of hits and reached base two more times with HBP.

Saturday's action will be streamed on ESPN+ and carried on the Gamecock Sports Network.