JACKSONVILLE — The Jax State baseball team travels to Memphis, Tennessee on their first road trip of the 2026 season to face the Memphis Tigers in only the second ever series between the two.
The three-game weekend series begins Friday at 4 p.m. at FedExPark where Steve Bieser's squad is looking to continue its seven-game winning streak after snagging two wins during midweek contests against the Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State. Memphis returned to the win column after an 0-3 weekend against Louisiana Tech and Ohio State, blasting Little Rock by a score of 24-5 to improve to 3-5.
The two clubs met for the first time only two years ago in Jacksonville, where the Gamecocks would take the series 2-1, highlighted by Caleb Johnson blasting an extra-inning grand slam in game three to clinch the series.
Cooper Blauser is looking to continue his streak of success, where he tallied four hits in the two midweek contests against MVSU. In game one, Blauser hit for a triple, a home run, and a single, followed by a double in game two, to hit for a cycle, albeit in separate games. Blauser has been a threat once he reaches base, as the redshirt junior is 4-4 on stolen bases for the season, leading the team.
The Jax State hitters are looking to take the upper hand of Memphis's overall 6.72 ERA on the rubber, currently last in the American Athletic Conference. Offensively, the Tigers are led by graduate student Shane Cox, batting .424 with 14 hits, four of them being doubles which leads the team in each of those statistical measures. Coastal Carolina transfer Freddy Rodriguez is also giving the Tigers an offensive boost, tallying nine hits in 29 at-bats, putting himself second behind his teammate Cox in hits and at bats.
The Gamecock pitchers currently hold opposing teams to an impressive .202 average at the plate, only allowing 59 hits in 83.0 innings, while impressively striking out 102 batters, leading CUSA in each of those categories.
Jax State will return the same rotation as last week, with three southpaws starting the three games. Eli Pillsbury will lead off the series on Friday night, with Steven Cash taking the mound on Saturday, and Beau Bryans taking the last start on Sunday. For Memphis, righty Seth Garner will start on Friday, righty Will Howell will get the start on Saturday, and lefty David Case will start for the Tigers on Sunday.
Following this weekend's series against the Tigers, the Gamecocks travel straight down I-20 to Tuscaloosa to face the Crimson Tide in a midweek battle before returning home to begin a weekend series against the Beacons of Valparaiso.
Fans looking to keep up with the Gamecocks during their time away from home can find this weekend's games at Memphis on ESPN+.
