HATTIESBURG, Miss.—Jax State will need to win three consecutive games to make it out of the Hattiesburg Regional after an 8-6 loss to fourth-seeded Little Rock Saturday night.
The Gamecocks will have a rematch with Virginia on Sunday at 3 p.m. with the winner facing Little Rock at 8 p.m. tomorrow in the double-elimination tournament.
Little Rock (38-26) jumped out to a 4-0 advantage with three in the first and a ground rule RBI double in the second.
"(Little Rock) played an outstanding game and they beat us in every phase of the game today," said coach
Steve Bieser. "Every time we tried to come back, they had an answer for us."
Jud Files came out of the Jax State bullpen and steadied things with his longest outing of the season, throwing a season high 67 pitches over a season-high 4.2 innings, and recorded a season-high six strikeouts. He exited the game in the sixth after surrendering three earned on five hits with two walks. The highlight was getting out of a two-on, one out jam with a pair of strikeouts in the fifth to keep his team within a run and working his third consecutive scoreless frame.
"I just wanted to give us the best shot to stay in that game and thew a lot of curve balls that landed and gave us a chance," said Files.
Brady Thomas's 11
th home run of the season was a 361-foot no-doubter to right to lead off the bottom of the second. The Gamecocks (47-14) then went back to the pressure that was so successful Friday night against Virginia and got
Cooper Blauser to first with an error on a bunt and came around to score on an opposite field double by
Matthew Cash to get within two.
Thomas made it a one-run game in the bottom of the fourth with his 12
th double of the season to bring home
Grayson Ashe.
Little Rock added two in the sixth with an RBI groundout and a two-out triple to lead 6-3.
In the bottom of the seventh,
Trey King came through with a two-out RBI single through the right side for his 44
th RBI of the season to get back within two, but the Trojans responded with a two-run double in the top of the eighth for an 8-4 advantage.
Cash came through with an RBI single to short in the eighth and the Gamecocks then loaded the bases with one out, then a sacrifice fly by
Jaxon Pate got Jax State within two at 8-6 but a strikeout ended the threat with two on.
Thomas and Cash combined for four of Jax State's eight hits.
In the ninth, the Gamecocks got two on with two outs after
Ace Williamson was hit by a pitch, but a fly ball to the wall ended the game.
