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TROY, Ala. – Jaguar left-hander Jared Gates turned in his second consecutive quality start to lead the top-seeded University of South Alabama baseball team to a 6-2 win over No. 8 Arkansas State in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship at Riddle-Pace Field.

Gates (5-3) allowed two runs on four hits, and struck out two while issuing seven walks in 7 1/3 innings to earn the win. Right-hander Ben Taylor struck out one in two-third scoreless relief innings to earn his seventh save of the season. ASU right-hander David Owen (3-5) allowed six runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and three walks in 6 1/3 innings in the loss.

"When I got into jams, I knew I had to bare down and make a pitch," Gates said. "I just did the best that I could. I had my team on my back, and I just tried to do what I do."

"I can't say enough about Jared Gates," head coach Mark Calvi said. "He did a fantastic job putting us on his back. He is the ultimate competitor. The guys have a lot of confidence when he is on the mound. They know that he is going to give them everything he has, and he has done that for two years. He got into some jams and got out of them, and I could not be more proud of this team on opening day. But there is a lot of baseball left in this tournament."

Arkansas State (25-29) pushed across the first run of the game in the top of the third. Jeremy Brown led off the inning with a walk, and moved to third on a double to right-center field by Lucas Feddersen. Zach George followed with an RBI groundout to shortstop to plate Brown for a one-run ASU advantage.

USA answered to tie the game in the bottom of the third. The Jags put runners at the corners with one out when Davis Knapp drew a one-out walk and advanced to third on a single back up the middle by Ryan Raspino. Cole Billingsley followed with an RBI single to right field to score Knapp and tie the game 1-1.

The Jags then took their first lead of the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Adam Ballew and Danny Martinez reached on consecutive singles to lead off the inning. Gleason followed with an RBI single off the right-field wall to score Ballew for a one-run USA lead. Matt Bolger followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners into scoring positon with one out. Knapp then grounded out to second to plate Martinez and extend the Jaguar lead to 3-1. Raspino followed with an RBI single to center field to score Gleason and extend the USA lead to 4-1.

"It definitely boosted my confidence," Gates said of the Jaguar three-run fourth. "It allowed me to go out there and relax and make pitches knowing that my team has my back."

Ben Gann reached on a hit by pitch from Owen to lead off the bottom of the fifth, and advanced to second on a grounder to shortstop off the bat of Bud Collura which Jeremy Brown mishandled to allow Gann to reach second. Ballew then doubled off the right-field wall to plate Gann and push the Jaguar advantage to four runs. Martinez followed with an RBI groundout to first base that allowed Collura to score for a 6-1 USA lead.

ASU loaded the bases in the top of the sixth on a pair of walks and a fielder's choice, but Gates worked out of the jam with an inning-ending flyout to left field off the bat of Stuart Levy to preserve a five-run USA advantage.

Brown reached on a hit by pitch from Gates to lead off the top of the seventh, and advanced to second on a bunt-single to third by Feddersen. Gates then issued a walk to Zach George to load the bases with no outs before inducing a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Joe Schrimpf that allowed Brown to score the final ASU run of the game from third. The southpaw then ended the frame with an inning-ending flyout to left field.

Ballew finished 3-for-4 with a double, one RBI and one run scored to lead South Alabama at the plate. Raspino finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Billingsley added two hits, one RBI and two stolen bases.

"We're excited with an opening-round win against a good Arkansas State team," Calvi said. "We did enough offensively in the middle innings to win. (David) Owen started out strong; he was really good. It looked like it was going to be a long day, but our guys hung in there and made some adjustments at the plate. We strung together some really good at-bats for three straight innings, and Jared Gates worked his tail off for us out there. Both pitchers hung in there on a hot day and pitched their hearts out. But our guys did a nice job against a really quality pitcher in Owen."

USA will return to action Thursday when it faces No. 5 Georgia State at 4 p.m. in the second round of the SBC Championship.

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).