RUSTON, La. — Eli Pillsbury fanned a career-high 12 batters en route to Jax State's 4-0 shutout victory over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on Friday night at J.C. Love Field.
Jax State earned its first victory over the Bulldogs in their home park with the victory and shut out the Bulldogs for the second time in the series.
The Gamecocks improve to 22-5 and 7-0 in Conference USA play, while LA Tech falls to 15-12 and 4-3 in CUSA play.
Pillsbury's 12 strikeouts are the most for a Gamecock pitcher since Jackson Phipps did it in last season's CUSA tournament semifinal against Dallas Baptist.
The first run of the game came in the top of the third inning, with Ace Williamson reaching on a bunt-single to the pitcher. With him at first, Jaxon Pate launched an RBI-double straight down the left field line to plate Williamson all the way from first, taking the early 1-0 lead.
Jax State doubled the lead in the top of the seventh with Williamson again crossing the plate. He reached on a two-base error by the LA Tech left fielder, then moved to third on a sac bunt. With the infield playing in, Trey King got a ball through the right side to score Williamson and make it 2-0.
The Gamecocks ran into a little adversity in the home half of the seventh frame when the Bulldogs loaded the bases with two outs. Skyler Hutto came in and got the batter to strikeout swinging to end the threat and keep the shutout alive.
In the top of the ninth inning, the Gamecocks plated two insurance runs, first from a Trey Majette RBI-double that scored Caleb Johnson to make it 3-0, followed by a Cooper Blauser sac fly to score Majette and make it 4-0.
Hutto mowed down the Bulldogs in the bottom of the ninth, striking out the first two and getting the final batter to groundout to third base to clinch the series opener.
Pillsbury earned his fifth victory of the season to improve to 5-0, and bringing his season ERA down to 0.91. Hutto earned his fifth save of the season with the win.
The Gamecocks look to take their third-straight CUSA series on Saturday. First pitch from Beau Bryans is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.
