JACKSONVILLE — Jax State baseball begins Conference USA play with a three-game set against the Sam Houston Bearkats beginning on Friday, March 13, in Huntsville, Texas. First pitch from Don Sanders Stadium is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Jax State carries a 14-3 record into the weekend, the best record in the league to this point. Jax State earned win number 14 on Tuesday with an 8-3 victory over North Alabama.
Grayson Ashe and
Luke Williams both enjoyed multi-hit performances, with Williams scoring two runs.
Trey King and
Jaxon Pate put up two RBI each to claim win No. 75 over the Lions.
Sam Houston comes into the weekend with an 8-8 record, most recently falling to Baylor, 13-5, in midweek action. Like Jax State, the Bearkats earned two run-rule victories to sweep a series, with Sam Houston taking down Prairie View A&M and Jax State taking down Valparaiso.
Jax State is 2-4 all-time against the Bearkats, with both victories coming last year in the series at Jim Case Stadium. After a 9-6 victory on Friday, Jax State run-ruled Sam Houston in eight inning to the tune of 21-10 to claim the series. Sam Houston won the Sunday game to salvage the finale.
Jax State still ranks highly in the country in several key statistics, including double plays, where the Gamecocks have turned the fourth-most in the nation with 18. Jax State is also top-20 in team ERA (3.12) and stolen bases (41). All of those figures lead Conference USA.
Jax State has announced two pieces of the starting rotation for the weekend, with southpaw
Eli Pillsbury starting on Friday night and southpaw
Beau Bryans taking the mound on Saturday. Sam Houston announced that right-hander Ryan Peterson will start Friday night and righty Collin Aloisio will start Saturday. Neither team has announced their Sunday starters.
This weekend's series will not have a video stream through ESPN+. To follow along with the actions, fans can tune into the Gamecock Radio Network to listen to
Mike Parris, or follow along with the action via live stats.
