HATTIESBURG, Miss.—Jax State stayed alive in the NCAA Baseball Tournament's Hattiesburg Regional by holding off a late charge by Virginia.
The Gamecocks got a legacy performance from senior
Steven Cash on the mound and a 4-for-4 day from
Cooper Blauser in a 7-6 win over the Cavaliers to advance to the regional final against Little Rock starting tonight at 8 p.m. at Pete Taylor Park.
Cash allowed back-to-back singles to lead off the sixth, but responded with three consecutive strikeouts which ran his total to 10 on the day. He got through seven innings with 103 pitches, 70 of which were strikes.
The Centreville, Ala. native left to a standing ovation from all in attendance, including those in navy and orange after 120 pitches with 10 strikeouts. He was charged with three runs, all which scored after his departure.
A hit batsman and back-to-back walks loaded the bases before his departure in the eighth, and they were cleared with a double to center by Jake Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon scored on a sacrifice fly to get a seven-run deficit to three. Eric Becker's first hit of the game was a two-run double to make it a one-run game.
"I'm just so happy how he went out," said Bieser of Cash. "He's a bulldog and a great young man and just really proud of him."
Sam Richardson's second inning grand slam traveled nearly 400 feet and cleared the right field wall to get the scoring started.
Jax State had a chance to add to the lead in the bottom of the sixth when
Brady Thomas walked and
Cooper Blauser picked up his second hit of the game, but they were left stranded in scoring position after
Matthew Cash bunted them over, which was followed by a foul pop out and a ground out to first.
Trey King did add to the lead with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly to score
Jaxon Pate who led off the inning with a double to left. Blauser then broke the game open with a two-run, two-out double to right field.
Josh Sibley picked up his first save of the season, throwing a perfect ninth with two strikeouts.
The Gamecocks will need to beat Little Rock twice to advance to their first Super Regional in program history.
