Jags Baseball Up Record to 9-0 With Win Against Jacksonville State
The Jags baseball team upped their record to 9-0 this season as they defeated Jacksonville State 8-3 Wednesday afternoon at Rudy Abbott Field. Matt Bell pitched five innings allowing three runs on four hits with three strikeouts. The three runs came on a three-run homer allowed in the first inning. But Bell would settle in and retire 14 of the final 15 batters he faced.
Every Jaguar starter got a hit in the game, five of them recorded multiple hits.
USA struck early with two runs in the top of the first inning on a two-run double by Jordan Patterson. Nick Zaharion would single later in the inning to score Patterson. Whitt Dorsey singled to center field to score the Jags final run of the inning to take a 4-0 lead.
The Gamecocks would cut the lead to 4-3 but would be shut out the rest of the way as the Jags cruised to the 8-3 win.
“We scored four in the first on five hits and that was good to see, because there wasn’t a lot offense yesterday,” Jaguar head coach Mark Calvi explained. “Then we gave up a three-run home run, but credit Matt Bell for coming back. He threw up zeros his next four innings, and we got every leadoff hitter out except for the ninth inning. He did what he had to do. He bent a little but didn’t break, and gave us a chance to score some runs. And we were pretty good out of the bullpen again.”
“We have to be good,” Calvi explains. “It gets tougher from here. College of Charleston is going to be good. We face a really good pitcher on Friday. They have some good arms and have some hitters returning, so we need quality starts. We need our starters to get us into at least the sixth (inning). We’ve used the bullpen a little and they have done a great job, but I want to see our starters get into the sixth or seventh inning and have a full cupboard for Saturday and Sunday.”
South Alabama will play College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. this weekend for a three-game series. The Cougars enter the game 3-4 and on a three game losing streak in the Auburn Tournament with close losses to Indiana State, Auburn and Middle Tennessee State.