JACKSONVILLE — Jax State baseball fell to the Cincinnati Bearcats by a final score of 11-5 on Friday night to open the 2026 college baseball season.

After a scoreless opening frame, Cincinnati (1-0) scored three runs, one from an RBI-single, one from a bases-loaded hit by pitch, and the third from a bases-loaded walk, to take a 3-0 advantage. The Bearcats added four more runs in the top of the third inning from an RBI-single, a sac fly, and a two-run double.

A two-run top of the fourth put the Bearcats up 9-0 before the Gamecocks (0-1) responded in the bottom of the fourth. Caleb Johnson smoked a 97 mile-per-hour shot between the first baseman's legs for a two-base error to plate Matthew Cash and Luke Williams, scoring Jax State's first runs of the season. Johnson would come home on a wild pitch to cut into the lead at 9-3.

The teams would remain at 9-3 until the top of the seventh, when Cincinnati took a 10-3 lead on an RBI-groundout. An RBI-fielder's choice would bump the lead back up to 11-3, but two runs in the bottom of the eighth by Jax State on a double down the left field line by Evan Williams, his first Division I hit, and an RBI-groundout from King to plate Pate and cut into the lead, but the score would hold at 11-5 to the end.

Steven Cash was charged with the loss after two innings with five earned runs. Cincinnati's Carson Marsh took the win with three scoreless relief innings.

Jax State will return to action on Saturday afternoon against the Bearcats. Eli Pillsbury gets the start on the mound for the Gamecocks.