Three home runs by senior Isaac Alexander, freshman Brennen Norten and sophomore Derrick Jackson, Jr., all back-to-back-back in the second inning powered Jacksonville State to 12-1 blasting of Bellarmine in the opening game of the final regular season series at Knights Field on Thursday.
The Gamecocks (24-27) improved to 17-11 in the ASUN West Division and in contention for one of the three spots from the division to the 2022 ASUN Baseball Championship event next week in Fort Meyers, Florida. The series continues with another afternoon contest on Friday with BU (11-41, 8-20 ASUN West).
In the heart of horse racing country, Jax State started out of the gates strong with a pair of runs in the first inning with an RBI by senior Alex Carignan and junior Carson Crowe. Crowe highlighted the JSU lineup with four hits and six RBI off of the Knights' pitchers. The Tuscaloosa, Alabama native finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as he posted his second double of the day in his last at bat. Crowe belted JSU's fourth home run in the fifth inning to give the Gamecocks a sizeable lead. It marks the second six RBI day for Crowe as he did it against Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas.
After BU scratched its lone run on the scoreboard in the first inning, Alexander, Norton and Jackson, Jr. blasted three of the first four pitches of the inning by BU's Drew Buhr. It is the second time this season that JSU has tallied back-to-back-to-back home runs. JSU did it earlier this season against North Alabama in the opening contest of that series in late April. Alexander and Norton finished with a pair of hits to join Crowe with a multi-hit contest.
The JSU offense collected 13 hits off of five Knights used on the mound including seven extra base hits, while sophomore Reid Fagerstrom battled on the bump for a career-high seven innings. Fagerstrom was touched for six hits and a run in the outing and added six strikeouts. Junior Trey Fortner tossed the final two innings.
Senior Cole Frederick, who scored four runs in the win, extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a double on the day. Frederick pushed his on-base streak to 22 consecutive games after reaching base three times on Thursday. Sophomore Mason Maners reached base with a double to add a link to his consecutive games reaching base streak. Maners been onboard a base in 26 of the 28 ASUN games.
Friday's contest can be viewed on the Knights Sports Network and carried over the airways of the Gamecock Sports Network.
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