JACKSONVILLE — Jax State baseball head coach
Steve Bieser earned the 400th victory of his career in a 10-3 series-opening victory over the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Friday night at Jim Case Stadium.
The win represented Bieser's 74th at Jax State, as well as the 19th of the season. The Gamecocks improved to 19-4 and 4-0 in Conference USA play, while WKU fell to 13-9 and 3-1 in CUSA play.
Eli Pillsbury earned his fourth victory and turned in another quality start, going seven innings with only three hits and a single run allowed. The southpaw struck out five and only allowed a single hit and walk in his final five innings of action.
Jax State took to the board early, scoring two in the home half of the opening frame.
Cooper Blauser opened the scoring with an RBI-single to plate
Jaxon Pate, then
Grayson Ashe's sacrifice fly scored
Luke Williams for the early 2-0 lead.
WKU cut the lead in half with an RBI-double to left-center field, holding a one-run deficit at 2-1 until the fourth inning.
In the home half of the fourth inning, the Gamecocks plated four to get some distance between the two teams, starting with
Caleb Johnson's three-RBI triple, making it 5-1.
Ace Williamson returned Johnson home on a sac bunt to make it 6-1.
The bottom of the fifth saw the Gamecocks plate two more runs to grow the lead to 8-1, with an RBI-single by
Brady Thomas and an RBI-double by Johnson.
In the bottom of the seventh, Williamson reached on a dropped fly by the WKU left fielder, allowing Johnson to score. A Blauser RBI-single brought Williamson home to make it 10-1 after seven.
The Hilltoppers tried to manufacture some offense late in the game, with a one-out two-RBI single in the top of the ninth inning, but
Ryan Geraghty was able to shut down the threat to secure Jax State's fourth conference win in as many conference games.
Three Gamecocks ended the night with three hits, with Johnson, Pate, and Thomas accounting for nine of Jax State's 14 hits. Johnson was a homer away from the cycle.
Jax State looks to win the series on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
