FINAL MARGIN

JACKSONVILLE – Senior Bert Smith extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a pair of hits and took a step closer to becoming the school's all-time hits leader as Jacksonville State claimed a 17-9 win over Eastern Michigan to win the series at Rudy Abbott Field on Sunday.

Smith, a former Pelham High School standout, now has 257 career hits and trails Clay Whittemore's school record of 258 career hits.

JSU's Daniel Watts (1-3) had eight strikeouts enroute to setting a school Division I record of consecutive outs via strikeout, to earn his first win of the year. The sophomore left-hander allowed just one hit in three innings on the mound and threw 43 pitches to record eight strikeouts. EMU's Kendall Lewis (0-2) lasted just three innings, giving up eight runs to suffer the loss.

The Gamecocks jumped out to an early lead, scoring three in the first and one in the second to build a 4-0 lead, but the Eagles took the lead after scoring three in the third and three in the fourth to take a 6-4 advantage.

Jax State battled back to take the lead for good in the home half of the fourth inning after plating six runs, highlighted by two-RBI double by Smith and a solo home run by Jay Davis as the Gamecocks took a 10-6 lead.

Jax State tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning on a two-RBI double by Andrew Edge and Smith drove in his fourth run of the day with a single to center field as JSU built a 13-6 lead.

The Gamecocks tacked on four more runs in the seventh inning after Jake Sharrock drove in two runs with a RBI double to left field, while Daniel Adamson and Davis each earned an RBI with a bases loaded walk to give JSU a 17-6 lead.

The Eagles scored their final run in the top of the ninth inning after Kyle Klein had a RBI single for the final margin.

Todd Cunningham, Kyle Bluestein, Blake Seguin, Smith, Edge and Sharrock each had a pair of hits as the Gamecocks finished with 14 in the game. Smith and Edge each drove in four runs, while Davis finished with three RBI for the Gamecocks.

Jax State returns to action on Tuesday in Birmingham against Samford. Game time is set for 6 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Stadium and the game can be heard on the JSU Sports Network with Mike Parris, beginning at 5:45 p.m.