USA Baseball Defeats JSU 4-2
The Jaguar Baseball team put three runs across the plate in the bottom of the second inning as they defeated Jacksonville State Tuesday night at Eddie Stanky Field 4-2.
Jared Gates allowed only one run in 5 1/3 innings of work while striking out four with no walks to earn his first career win as a Jaguar. Bandon Haliford threw two shutout innings while striking out three to earn his first career save as a Jaguar.
The three run second inning began with Matt Mojciechowski doubling to right-center to lead off the inning. Then Erik Kindmon followed with a walk before Matt Bolger delivered a two-run triple to left-center in his first at-bat as a Jaguar to put the Jags on the board 2-0. Cameron Cummings followed with an RBI single to score the third and final run of the inning.
Through the first five innings Gates faced the minimum before surrendering a leadoff single to Andre Bishop. That would be followed by an RBI double from Tyler Gamble to cut the Jaguar lead to 3-1 in the top of the sixth inning.
In the top of the seventh inning, JSU’s designated hitter Paschal Petrongolo got on base with a two-out double to center, he was then replaced with pinch runner Ty Pierce. The next batter, Ryan Sebra, hit an RBI double to cut the Jaguar lead to one run, 3-2.
The Jaguars responded in the bottom half of the inning when Drew LaBounty led off the inning with a single to center. He would later score on a one-out RBI single to left field by Bud Collura.
In the top of the eighth inning with James Traylor pitching for the Jags, the Gamecocks threatened with a leadoff double then a walked batter put the tying run on first base with no outs. Hallford entered the game and got three straight outs, two of them being strikeouts.
The Jags improve to 3-4 on the season while JSU falls to 4-3. The Jags can even their season record this afternoon when they meet on the diamond again at 3pm.