SUNDAY'S SCORES
Jacksonville State 9, Clemson 2 (Oxford, Miss.)
@#12 Ole Miss 19,
Jacksonville State 4
JACKSONVILLE STATE 9, CLEMSON 2
OXFORD, Miss. - Jacksonville State will continue its trend of program firsts as it eliminated Clemson, 9-2, in the 2019 NCAA Oxford Regional to move into the regional championship round on Sunday night.
The Gamecocks will face the Rebels of Ole Miss for a second time this weekend.
After JSU (39-22) picked up the program's first NCAA Division I Regional win on Friday, dispatching Illinois, it jumped on the Tigers (35-26) from the Atlantic Coast Conference early and never looked back. The Gamecocks struck for four two-out runs in the second inning, highlighted by a three-run home run by junior Tre Kirklin. Kirklin, from Kennesaw, Georgia, finished with four RBI on the day after beating out a fielder's choice in JSU's two-run seventh.
Those four runs would propel JSU starter Dylan Hathcock as the redshirt sophomore turned in another solid postseason outing. After going 6.2 innings against Morehead State to help JSU to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Championship, the Tallassee, Alabama lefty limited Clemson to its two runs in the second inning. He would pitch into the fifth after scattering six hits and letting his defense take care of the rest. JSU escaped scoring threats by the Tigers with a pair of double plays. The Tigers stranded 14 runners on the base paths.
JSU turned it over to the bullpen the rest of the way junior Corley Woods first, followed by freshman Michael Gilliland. Corley, who moved to 7-0 on the season held the Tigers to one hit and struck out three in 2.1 innings. Gilliland closed out the final 2.1 innings with a pair of strikeouts.
JSU expanded the lead in the fifth with an RBI by Isaac Alexander and Andrew Naismith. Alexander finished with a pair of RBI and two hits. Junior Alex Webb and sophomore Cole Frederick also had multiple hits. Alexander's second RBI came in the eighth with an RBI single.
The Gamecocks' two runs in the seventh crossed the plate on a wild pitch and Kirklin's fielder's choice.
#12 OLE MISS 19, JACKSONVILLE STATE 4
OXFORD, Miss. - Jacksonville State's historic season came to close in the 2019 NCAA Oxford Regional Championship with a 19-4 setback to Ole Miss on Sunday night at UM's Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.
The Gamecocks finished the season with a 39-23 overall mark, the most wins by the program in its NCAA Division I era and ties for the most wins a single season since 1997. For the first time since joining the Ohio Valley Conference, Jax State claimed the regular season championship and punched its ticket to a fifth NCAA Regional by winning the conference tournament crown. The regular season championship was JSU's third, while the tournament title was the program's fifth. After falling to the Rebels in the opening game of the NCAA Oxford Regional on Friday, the Gamecocks bounced back to claim its first NCAA Division I Regional win on Saturday with a 7-5 come-from-behind victory. Earlier on Sunday, JSU bounced Clemson from postseason play with a 9-2 win. Saturday's win over the Fighting Illini marked JSU's 11th last at-bat win, including nine walk-off wins.
By reaching the championship of the NCAA Oxford Regional, JSU is one of nine No. 4 seeds to advance to the title round since 2013 and the only one in 2019 edition of the NCAA Tournament and one of 32 teams left in the regional final round. The Gamecocks finished the season winning 14 of the final 16 games, including one of the longest winning streaks in NCAA Division I Baseball entering the regional round. The Gamecocks put together a 12-game winning streak before falling to the Rebels on Friday.
For the third consecutive night, the Rebels' pitching staff turned in a prolific outing as Gunnar Hoglund went 5.1 innings and gave up JSU's two runs in the third inning. While Hoglund was keeping the Gamecocks quiet, the UM bats stayed hot in the postseason with 20 hits. UM's Thomas Dillard was the highlight of the lineup with a three-hit night, including a pair of home runs. He started the game with a solo home run on the first pitch from Trey Fortner and delivered a grand slam in the UM's six-run fourth inning. Cole Zabowski posted a game-high four hits, including a double in the win.
Junior Tre Kirklin, who had four RBI in the win over Clemson, added a fifth RBI of the day with a two-out RBI single in the third inning. He plated redshirt freshman Nash Adams, who had JSU's first hit of the night with a double to left field. Sophomore Cole Frederick plated Kirklin with a single to left field. Kirklin finished his first NCAA Regional with six hits and a sixth RBI with a single in the ninth. Frederick and junior Andrew Naismith each collected two-hits versus the Rebels.
Sunday's regional final concluded a stellar four-year career for Nic Gaddis. The Trenton, Georgia native platooned at catcher and third base for most of his career. He finished with a plus-.300 career batting average and 29 career home runs, which ranks 14th on JSU's career home run list. With a hit against Ole Miss, he capped his career with 192 hits, including 42 doubles and four triples. Gaddis played in 172 games and started 166 of those games. He lived up to the preseason billing of a 2019 Second Team Collegiate Baseball Preseason All-American selection as JSU's top hitter throughout the season. He finished with a .330 average at the plate, highlighted by 14 home runs in 2019, the most by a Gamecock since Jason Nunn in 2000. JSU senior pitchers Austin Brewster and Cody Willingham also wrapped up their two-year career as Gamecocks. Brewster, from Trussville, Alabama, made 60 appearances out the bullpen and accumulated four saves in his career - all coming in 2019. Willingham, a Rainsville, Alabama product, saw action in 25 games and picked up a win in JSU's 11th inning walk-off win over nationally-ranked Georgia on May 8 on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium.
The Gamecocks, after playing 2017 and 2018 in a home-away-from-home at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama, enjoyed being able to play in its new state-of-the-art facility of Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium. Jax State recorded a 20-11 record on its home turf and drew over 29,000 fans at the first-year facility. The Gamecocks hosted Auburn and Alabama on back-to-back nights in Jacksonville with over 4,000 in attendance combined. JSU had an announced crowd of 1,527 when the Bulldogs of UGA visited on May 8.