DALLAS, Texas – The Jax State baseball team will play its final three regular season games beginning on Thursday, May 14, at Horner Park against the Dallas Baptist Patriots.
Jax State carries a 41-11 record (22-5 CUSA) into the series after taking care of the fifth-ranked Auburn Tigers on Tuesday night, 4-1, to sweep the season series against the Tigers for the first time in program history. Starting pitching
Ryan Geraghty had the Tigers off balance all night and pitched a career-long 5.2 innings of shutout baseball, and
Chase Horst earned the first save of his collegiate career. Offensively, multi-hit games from
Grayson Ashe and
Brady Thomas powered the Gamecocks to victory on Tuesday night.
DBU is 29-23 so far this year, with a 17-10 mark in CUSA play. DBU went 1-3 last week in four road games, dropping games against Texas Tech and two against conference foe Western Kentucky.
The Gamecocks and Patriots have met 12 times total, with the Gamecocks winning the previous two match ups between the teams. Despite getting swept at home in the regular season, Jax State took down DBU twice in the CUSA Tournament in Lynchburg to advance to the championship game.
Jax State has already clinched at least a share of the Conference USA regular season championship, but has a strong chance to clinch the title outright and the No. 1 seed in the league tournament. The Gamecocks' magic number is one, meaning the team needs one win over DBU or one Liberty loss to MTSU to claim the outright league title.
Jax State's starting pitching on the weekends has been nothing short of spectacular. Eli Pillsbury, Beau Bryans, and Steven Cash all carry ERAs under 2.90 and all have 65+ strikeouts through this point of the year. Against FIU, all three had quality starts against the Panthers, including a career-long outing from Pillsbury (8.0 IP) and a career-high in Ks from Cash (13). The trio posting quality starts again against Kennesaw State. The Gamecocks boast the only pitching rotation in CUSA to have all of its starters named Pitcher of the Week twice, with Pillsbury earning it in Week 14 and both Bryans and Cash taking the award in Week 12.
Jax State ranks highly in several major statistical categories. Jax State has the ninth-most double plays in Division I with 46, tied with Rice and UNC Asheville. New Orleans out of the Southland leads the nation with 60. The Gamecocks have six shutout victories in 2026, only trailing USC, Oregon, and Florida for the most in the nation. The Trojans have nine, while Oregon and Florida have seven. The Gamecocks are third in the nation in sacrifice bunts with 60 and tied for 19th in sacrifice flies with 30. Jax State's pitching only allows 6.93 hits per game, only trailing USC (6.83) for the fewest in Division I.
Neither side has confirmed their starting pitching for the weekend. All three games will be broadcast on ESPN+, and Mike Parris will have the call for the Gamecock Radio Network.
