Box Score

TROY, Ala. – ­No. 12 University of South Alabama softball was held hitless through the first three innings of play on Wednesday night at Troy, but the Jaguar bats came alive in the fourth inning, as USA produced nine runs off as many hits in the next four innings to defeat the Trojans, 9-1.
 
USA (26-3) extends its win streak to 10 games and moves to 4-0 in Sun Belt Conference play. Junior righty Farish Beard, who entered the week as the nation's leader in ERA, moved to 15-1 on the year after striking out nine Trojan batters and allowing four hits and one run (earned).
 
Freshman Chloe Rathburn and Amanda Minahan led USA at the plate, going 3-for-4 and 2-for-3, respectively. The former recorded a run scored and RBI, while the latter produced three RBI on a three-run homer in the fifth inning, while also scoring a pair of her own.
 
Stephanie Pilkington scored a pair of runs on 1-for-3 hitting, while Blair Johnson, Alyssa Linn, Gwen Jones and Taylor Rodgers also registered scores. Alex Breeden and Amanda Herron also had an RBI apiece.
 
The road victory marked the 17^th-straight for USA, dating back to the 2013 campaign. The Jags are 5-0 on the road this season.
 
USA will next host Louisiana-Monroe this weekend in a three-game Sun Belt set at Jaguar Field. A doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. will precede Sunday's 1 p.m. finale.

Strikeouts bookended Johnson's walk in the top of the fourth, and Rathburn got her first hit and RBI when she delivered a two-out single to scratch USA's first run across.
 
Gwen Jones moved to eighth on the USA all-time stolen base list when she stole her 17^th bag after coming in to pinch run for Herron, who walked, in the top of the fifth. The junior was brought around on reliever Rachel Rigney's pitch to double the Jaguars advantage to 2-0 in the top of the fifth.
 
Previously, the bags were loaded after walks to Rodgers and Pilkington, and Minahan's homer, her third of the year, cleared the bases to make it 5-0 USA.
 
The visitors scratched one more across in the top of the sixth when Breeden sent an RBI single off Rigney and into the outfield to plate Linn, pinch-running for Rathburn, who previously singled, to make it 6-0.
 
Troy scratched a run across in the bottom of the sixth on Erica Davis's sacrifice hit that scored Kacie McAllister, who delivered the first triple against USA all season.
 
USA rounded out scoring with three runs in the top of the seventh, beginning with back-to-back base hits from Pilkington and Minahan. Johnson, the next batter, lined out to Troy second baseman Michelle Phelps, but Phelps' try to second for a force out went wide and allowed the two USA runners to score for an 8-1 lead. Rathburn followed with another single, before Herron tripled to right field to bring the former around.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).