SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Jax State's offense scored 11 runs in a decisive 11-4 victory over the Missouri State Bears on Sunday afternoon to claim the Conference USA series over the Bears.
Jax State improved to 38-10 on the year and became the first CUSA team this season to win 20 games, now sitting at a conference record of 20-4. Mo State fell to 27-16 on the year and fell to 15-9 in league play.
Maddox McDougall earned his fourth victory of the season to stay undefeated, pitching an inning and a third of clean relief with three strikeouts.
Skyler Hutto earned his 11th save of the year after three frames of scoreless baseball, only sacrificing one hit in his outing. Mo State's Max Knight fell to 5-3 on the year after getting tagged for four runs and being lifted after only one inning.
Jax State took to the board early in the top of the second with a statement three-run homer from
Sam Richardson, scoring Orlando Pena and
Trey King for an early 3-0 lead. The Gamecocks added another run in that frame with an RBI-double by
Caleb Johnson, scoring
Trey Majette.
Mo State responded in the home half of the same frame, getting to the board with a solo homer by Cade Bogenpohl, followed by a sac fly by the catcher to cut Jax State's lead in half at 4-2.
The Gamecocks added a fifth run in the top of the fourth on a double play, where
Ace Williamson returned home to score, but the Bears answered with another run in the bottom of the fourth with another sac fly, cutting the lead to 5-3.
The fifth inning was similar to the fourth, where in the top half, the Gamecocks scored a run with Peña's RBI-single to left-center field to plate
Grayson Ashe, then Mo State scoring on a sac fly in the home half to make it a 6-4 game.
Jax State plated five runs in the next three frames, starting on a wild pitch in the top of the sixth that scored
Jaxon Pate.
Cooper Blauser was brought home on a RBI-single by King on the next pitch to inflate the lead to 8-4.
Two runs scored in the top of the seventh inning on a Johnson two-RBI double, ballooning the lead to 10-4, and an RBI-groundout by
Brady Thomas plated King for the 11th run of the day.
Hutto shut down the Bears in the final three frames, with his only hit coming in the bottom of the eighth, a single. In the bottom of the ninth, the lead-off man reached due to an error, but was erased on the next batter thanks to a 3-6 double play.
Peña led the Gamecocks with a three-for-four performance with an RBI and a run scored. King went two-for-three with two walks.
In total, the Gamecocks drew 10 walks against Mo State.
Jax State will return to action over the weekend against Kennesaw State. The final home CUSA series is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday night.
