KENNESAW, Ga.—A complete team effort helped Jax State win the Conference USA Baseball Tournament with a 10-0 seven-inning win over second-seeded Liberty Sunday afternoon to become the fifth different CUSA team to win the tournament in five years.
Seven different players were responsible for the 12 Jax State hits and three pitchers combined for seven strikeouts in the shutout win.
"I can't tell you how proud I am of this group," said coach
Steve Bieser. "They fought extremely hard, they've had faith in each other; the brotherhood that they have, they've been outstanding."
At the plate, Tournament Most Valuable Player
Sam Richardson hit a pair of homers to go along with his walk-off hit in Friday's game. His seventh homer of the season traveled 428 feet to straightaway center in the bottom of the second to put the Gamecocks (46-13) on the board first in just his 16
th start of the season.
An inning later,
Caleb Johnson launched his ninth homer of the season to right with two outs to give his team a 3-0 lead and picking up his 50
th RBI of the season in the process.
Grayson Ashe then doubled to left and
Brady Thomas brought him home with his 10
th longball of the year to right to push the lead to five.
Johnson was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.
Steven Cash threw 52 pitches over the first 3.2 innings picking up the win in the first game of the tournament on Thursday against Middle Tennessee was lifted for
Jud Files with two on and two out in the fourth. Cash struck out two, allowed one hit and hit two batters.
"He wanted the ball on two days rest," said Bieser of Cash. "We were okay with opening up for one inning since it was his bullpen day, but I was just so proud of how we went about it. Hes' a warrior."
Files walked the five-hole hitter in Easton Swofford, but came back with a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the inning. He threw 52 pitches over 2.2 scoreless innings of work, allowing just two hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
The Gamecocks manufactured three more runs on three hits in the fifth when
Trey King squeezed home
Jaxon Pate who singled up the middle to lead off the inning.
Grayson Ashe brought home Johnson who doubled with an RBI single to left.
Cooper Blauser's sacrifice fly then brought home King to make it 8-0 heading to the sixth.
Pate finished 2-for-4 in the leadoff spot. Ashe had a pair of hits in the winning effort.
Jackson Sleeper relieved Files with one out in the seventh and loaded the bases with a walk, but responded with a strikeout and a flyout to keep the Gamecocks in the lead.
Richardson ended the game in the seventh with a two-run homer to center to bring home
Cooper Blauser.
Ashe, Blauser, King, and Cash joined Richardson on the all-tournament team.
With the win, the Gamecocks have clinched Conference USA's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament and will learn its regional destination on Monday at 11 a.m. during the selection show on ESPN2.
