Murray State
Jacksonville State
Players Mentioned
Racers Face JSU in Birmingham
3/28/2018 2:35:00 PM | Baseball
GAMES 26-28
Murray State (14-11, 5-4 OVC) vs. Jacksonville State (12-9, 3-3 OVC)
March 29-31, 2018
First Pitch: Thursday: 6 p.m., Friday: 2 p.m., Saturday: 1 p.m.
Stadium: Young Memorial Field (Birmingham, Ala.)
Dimensions: 320 (LF) | 400 (CF) | 325 (RF)
Series History: JSU leads the all-time series 30-15
Last Meeting: MSU 3, JSU 4 – April 2, 2017
Watch Live: Game one | Game two | Game three
Live Stats: Game one | Game two | Game three
Twitter In-Game: @RacersBaseball
First Pitch
Due to renovations at Abbott Field in Jacksonville, the Racers and Gamecocks will play this week's OVC series in Birmingham, Ala., at Young Memorial Field on the campus of Alabama Birmingham (UAB). MSU is coming off a three-game sweep of Eastern Illinois last weekend while JSU was swept by Jacksonville at home in its non-OVC series. The Racers are 3-8 away from Reagan Field this year.
Inside the Series
MSU is 8-15 away from home all-time against the Gamecocks. JSU won 2-of-3 at Reagan Field in 2017 and also won 2-of-3 in 2016, the last time the two teams played away from Murray. Over the last 12 meetings, each team has won six times. This weekend's series is being played Thursday-Sunday due to Easter Sunday.
National Leader
Davis Sims continues to lead the country this season in doubles with 15 so far. The program record for most doubles in a season is 22 set by Tyler Lawrence in 2016. Sims remains in the lead despite having a "down" weekend series by his standards, as he hit just one in the three games against Eastern Illinois.
Fast Out the Gate
The Racers have scored a run in the first inning in nine of their last 10 games, dating back to March 10 against SIU Edwardsville. MSU is 6-4 over that 10-game span.
Leading Off Right
MSU has hit nine home runs this season to lead off innings and are 6-2 in games in which they have a homer to begin an inning. The Racers hit lead off homers last weekend in games two and three against EIU.
Scouting Jacksonville State
Nic Gaddis leads Jacksonville State in batting this season with a .421 average. Gaddis is third on the squad with 18 RBIs and has a team-best 11 doubles. Trent Simpson leads the Gamecocks with seven home runs and 23 ribbies while Andrew Naismith leads the team with 20 runs scored.
As a team, JSU is second-to-last in the OVC in team batting average with a .250 clip while the Gamecocks' 129 runs scored are eighth in the league. The Gamecocks however, boast the best pitching staff in the league statistically with an OVC-leading 4.34 ERA.
Colton Pate leads JSU with three victories and leads the starters with an ERA of 2.97 and also leads the squad with 33.1 innings pitched and 38 strikeouts. Trent Simpson has a team-best three saves on the year and a 0.93 ERA. Grant Chandler leads JSU with nine appearances out of the bullpen and has a 2.92 ERA. Jim Case is in his 16th season as the Head Coach at JSU.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Thursday: Blake Clynes (LHP) (1-1, 4.81 ERA) vs. Garrett Farmer (RHP) (2-0, 3.27 ERA)
Friday: Peyton Hayes (RHP) (0-1, 5.34 ERA) vs. Derrick Adams (LHP) (1-2, 7.01 ERA)
Saturday: Luke Brown (LHP) (1-2, 7.32 ERA) vs. Colton Pate (RHP) (3-2, 2.97 ERA)
