JACKSONVILLE — Jax State baseball fell 4-3 to the Alabama Crimson Tide on Tuesday night at Jim Case Stadium.
The Gamecocks fall to 24-6 on the season while Alabama improves to 23-7.
Skyler Hutto was charged with the loss by giving up the go-ahead homer in the top of the ninth inning, while Evan Steckmesser was tagged with the win as the active Alabama pitcher when the late stalemate was broken.
The Crimson Tide took to the board first with a two-run homer in the top of the second inning, taking the 2-0 lead into the fifth inning, where they stretched the lead to 3-0 with an RBI-double.
Jax State cut into the lead with a Sam Richardson solo homer in the home half of the fifth inning, holding the Tide off in the later frames. Jax State again clawed away at the lead with an RBI-single by Grayson Ashe in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring Matthew Cash to make it 3-2.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning, Ashe was able to draw a walk to bring Greg LaChance home, tying the game at 3-3 in the waning innings.
Alabama took the lead in the top of the ninth with a towering home run with two outs.
Orlando Pena reached on two outs with a walk, but Alabama was able to hold off the potential rally by the Gamecocks to escape.
The Gamecocks will return to conference play on April 2 against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. The three-game series kicks off at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
