JACKSONVILLE — Jax State baseball took down Valparaiso in both games of a Saturday doubleheader in run-rule fashion, taking game one 17-3 and game two 13-2, to sweep the series against the Beacons.
GAME ONE (JAXST 17 | VALPO 3)
Jax State scored in every inning, and eight of nine starters registered a hit to open the doubleheader with an emphatic 17-3 run-rule victory.
Valparaiso (5-7), like Friday, scored in the top of the first inning with an RBI-triple, but Jax State (12-3) answered with three runs in the home half of the same frame to take a 3-1 lead. Grayson Ashe's two-RBI single got the scoring started, plating Cooper Blauser and Trey King.
After plating a fourth run in the bottom of the second, the Gamecocks scored runs five, six, and seven all at once in the bottom of the third with Ashe's three-run homer to left field.
Brady Thomas registered his second long ball of the season in the bottom of the fourth to make it 8-1, then Ashe made it 9-1 when he scored on an error by the Valpo catcher.
The bottom of the fifth saw another three runs score for Jax State to make it 12-1, with an RBI-single, a sac fly, and a score from a wld pitch. Valpo answered in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer to take the game out of run-rule territory at 12-3, but five runs in the bottom of the sixth solidified the shortened victory.
Ashe ended the first game going three-for-three, with two runs scored and six RBI accounted for, a career-high for the Montgomery native.
Steven Cash collected his first win of the season with five innings of one run ball. After the Valpo run scored in the first inning, Cash locked down the Beacons to prevent another run on his watch.
GAME TWO (JAXST 13 | VALPO 2)
Beau Bryans struck out 10 in six innings an Jax State's bats exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure the Jax State (13-3) sweep over the Beacons (5-8) on Saturday afternoon.
The Beacons took to the board first, scoring off of a pair of Jax State errors to take a 1-0 lead, a run which would go unearned on Bryans' ledger.
The Gamecocks answered in the bottom of the third inning with a two-run homer from Caleb Johnson, taking a 2-1 lead after the opening three frames.
Valpo plated a run in the top of the fourth on a high chopper in the infield , tying the game at 2-2.
Three Jax State runs came in the bottom of the fifth from an RBI-groundout by Thomas and a two-RBI single from Ashe, putting some distance between the two.
The bottom of the seventh saw Jax State put up eight runs, the first time since 2022 that the Gamecocks put up eight runs in a single inning. Matthew Cash plated two with a two-RBI single, then Ace Williamson brought a runner home when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Johnson brough home two runners with a two-RBI single of his own to make it 10-2.
Orlando Pena stepped in the box as a pinch hitter, and on the first pitch he saw, the Valdosta State-transfer sent a three-run homer to the trees in left field to walk-off the game in run rule fashion.
Bryans moved to 2-0 on the season with the first quality start of his Division I career, going six innings with only four hits, one earned run, and 10 strikeouts.
Jax State will return to action on Tuesday afternoon with a midweek game at North Alabama. First pitch from Florence is scheduled for 3 p.m.
