Baseball Eagles Fall in Game Two at Jacksonville State Saturday

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- A one-run game got away from the Morehead State baseball team late at Jacksonville State Saturday as the Gamecocks scored seven times in the eighth to pull away for an 11-3 victory over the Eagles at Rudy Abbott Field.

The series is now even at a game apiece. MSU slipped back to 28-16 and 12-8 in the OVC, while the Gamecocks catapulted to 22-20 overall and 13-7 in league games.

The Eagles got on the board first with sophomore third baseman Stephen Hill's double into the left-field gap scoring senior center-fielder Connor Pauly in the opening frame.

Consecutive RBI singles from Alex Strachan and Cole Frederick propelled the Gamecocks into the lead in the third frame, and JSU added another in the fourth on a subsequent RBI single. Yet another RBI one-bagger pushed the Eagles' disadvantage to 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth.

The Eagles put together a mini rally in the seventh to bring the game to 4-3. Senior catcher Hunter Fain singled to lead off and moved to second when the ball was misplayed by the left-fielder. He later scored on senior designated hitter Trevor Snyder's grounder to the left side that was thrown away at first base. On the play he moved to second, and Snyder scored moments later on senior shortstop Reid Leonard's single into right field. But, with the bases loaded, Hill was called out on strikes.

The home team broke open a 4-3 game with seven tallies in the bottom of the eighth, assisted by a fielding error which resulted in six of the runs being unearned.

Starter Jason Goe (4-2) was touched up for three runs on nine hits in just 4.2 innings. He did come up with seven strikeouts.

JSU starter Isaiah Magwood (1-1) picked up the win, tossing a career-best 6.0 innings with a career-high nine punchouts. The Eagle hitters struck out a season-high 14 times.

Junior Dom Peroni led the offense with two hits.

The series finale is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.