Baseball: South Alabama buries Jacksonville State 11-1
Cam Hill pitched seven shutout innings and South Alabama battered nine Jacksonville State pitchers for 12 hits and seven extra-base hits in an 11-1 victory in the finale of three-game series Sunday at Stanky Field in Mobile.
Hill, an Auburn transfer, surrendered just five hits, struck out five and did not walk a batter as the Jaguars (7-1) took two of three in the series from the Gamecocks (3-4). The left-hander from Madison allowed just one Gamecocks baserunner to reach third and threw 90 pitches (64 for strikes) before giving way to the bullpen for the final two innings.
“Hill didn’t have his best (velocity); he was touching 90-91 (mph),” South Alabama coach Mark Calvi said. “But he was holding his velocity and that’s what we need to stretch him out. I thought he was outstanding. He got five of his seven leadoff outs and no walks. He was great.”
South Alabama improved its record to 7-1 this season after winning Sunday and also 8-6 on Friday. Jax State won 9-3 on Saturday, dealing the Jaguars their lone loss of the season thus far.
On Sunday, the Jaguars scored singles runs in the first and fourth innings, two in the second, sixth and seventh and three in the fifth on a “Johnny Wholestaff” day for the Gamecocks. Starting pitcher Foster McDonald (0-1) got the loss, allowing a run without getting an out in the first inning.
South Alabama shuffled the top of the lineup significantly on Sunday, moving Will Turner to the leadoff spot from the 2-hole, JG Bell to the 2-hole from fifth and Brennan Holt from sixth to fifth. Calvi also dropped Joseph Sullivan from second to third and Lucas Ismaili from third to fourth.
“We split the lineup up a bit,” Calvi said. “I felt like we were kind of pitchable going into (Saturday), but we hadn’t lost a game so I didn’t want to mess with a winning streak. … But we were able to spread it out a little bit and make it tougher to match up left-on-left and right-on-right. Our guys came out swinging the bat today, even though we left some guys on in the early innings.”
Turner, who started the season 0-for-19 before hitting a solo homer in Saturday’s loss, went 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs on Saturday. He led off the bottom of the first with a double, coming home when Ismaili was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Turner entered the season as a Top 100 prospect for the 2024 MLB draft, but couldn’t get anything to fall in during the first six games. His average is now at a modest .167, but he has walked 10 times and driven in six runs.
“I take the 0-for-whatever stretch kind of as a lesson,” Turner said. “I was trying to take it day-by-day and trust myself and I knew that they were gonna fall eventually. All it took was that one yesterday, and now we’re going.”
Tyler Borges and Turner drove in runs with singles in the second, then Borges singled home another run in the fourth to make it 4-0. The Jaguars tacked on three in the fifth on doubles by Ismaili, Holt and Ethan Melton, plus sacrifice flies by Duncan Mathews and Robbie Petracci.
Ismaili hammered a two-run homer off the left-field scoreboard — his second four-bagger of the series — in the sixth to put South Alabama up 9-0. The Jaguars added two more in the seventh on a wild pitch and Turner’s sacrifice fly.
Melton, a freshman, went 2-for-3 with two doubles and also recorded nine putouts in right field. Hill (1-0) induced just five groundball outs, with 11 coming on fly balls.
“(Hill) looked really good,” Turner said. “He was locating fastball in and out and throwing a good change-up to lefties and righties. That’s what he does, man. He just fills up the zone and trusts his defense and he did that today.”
Jax State scored its only run off South Alabama reliever Leif Moore in the eighth, with Caleb Johnson walking and coming home on Gabe Young’s double into the right field corner. Tyler Smith pitched a scoreless ninth for the Jaguars to end the game.
South Alabama continues it 13-game season-opening home stand with a 6:30 p.m. Wednesday game vs. Nicholls. Jax State hosts Kennesaw State at 6 p.m. the same night.