MARION, Ill. (WIAT) – Top-seeded Jacksonville State advanced in the winners bracket of the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Tournament with its ninth walk-off win of the season with Alex Strachan’s lead off blast in the 10th inning to down Belmont, 6-5, on Thursday at Rent One Park.
(Video of winning run, courtesy of ESPN)
The dramatic finish was Jax State’s 10th last at-bat win of the season and the seventh by way of a home run. Strachan drilled a payoff pitch from Belmont’s Kyle Brennan to straight centerfield (400 feet) to give the Gamecocks the win. Strachan, from Madison, Alabama, has become accustomed to being involved with walk-off wins as he belted the game-tying home run in the ninth against then-eighth-ranked Georgia and had the game-winning single in the 11th to knock off the Bulldogs on May 8 on Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium. JSU has had six last at-bat win in its last nine games and pushed its mark to 7-0 in extra innings.
The Gamecocks collected their 10th consecutive win, which ranks third in NCAA Division I Baseball through games-played on Wednesday. Central Michigan has reeled off 15 straight wins, while UC Santa Barbara has claimed 13 wins in a row. JSU will face either No. seed Austin Peay or No. 6 seed Eastern Kentucky on Friday at 11 a.m.