KENNESAW, Ga. — Cooper Blauser took four balls with the bases loaded to walk in the game-winning run, eliminating Dallas Baptist and securing its second-consecutive berth to the Conference USA Baseball Championship game with a 6-5 victory on Saturday.
Jax State improved to 45-13 on the year with the victory, while Dallas Baptist fell to 32-26 and will likely miss the NCAA Regionals for the first time in 11 seasons.
The Gamecocks are now 3-0 in CUSA Championship play after back-to-back walk-off victories.
Skyler Hutto earned his second victory in as many games as the active pitcher when the Gamecocks won. DBU's closer, Athan Kroll, fell to 0-4 after giving up the game-winning run.
DBU scored the first runs of the game with a two-run homer from Chayton Krauss in the top of the first, but Jax State responded in the bottom half of the same frame with a Grayson Ashe sac bunt, scoring Jaxon Pate.
DBU stretched its lead to two runs at 3-1 with an RBI-double by Dylan Schlaegal in the top of the third inning.
Two Jax State runs in the bottom of the fifth tied the game at 3-3, starting with a sac fly from Caleb Johnson to score Luke Williams, followed by a Trey King RBI-double to bring Pate home a second time.
Luke Pettitte's RBI-groundout in the top of the sixth gave DBU a brief lead at 4-3.
Jax State, again, tied the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with an RBI-single by Ashe, bringing home Johnson.
After the second weather delay of the day, the eighth inning resumed. The Gamecocks took its first lead of the game in the bottom of the eighth with Williams' RBI-single, scoring Ace Williamson.
DBU knotted the score up at 5-5 with an RBI-double by Brooks Sartain, but the Gamecocks escaped a bases-loaded situation to take the tie to the bottom half of the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Johnson led off the inning with a single, followed by an Ashe walk. A wild-pitch moved both runners into scoring position, and the Patriots decided to intentionally walk Brady Thomas as a result. Blauser only needed to see four pitches, walking to end the game and secure another CUSA title game appearance for Jax State.
The game was originally scheduled to start at 11 a.m. ET, but weather held up the start until 1:42 p.m. ET.
The Gamecocks await the winner of No. 2 Liberty and No. 3 Missouri State for the Conference USA Championship game.
