DECATUR, Ga. – South Alabama tied a season-high in runs with 14, pounded out a season-best 16 hits, and six players recorded multiple hits as the Jaguars took game one of the series with a 14-8 win over Georgia State Friday evening at the Robert E. Heck Softball Complex.

UP NEXT
- South Alabama (13-25, 3-14 SBC) will continue the Sun Belt series on Saturday with a doubleheader. Due to expected weather on Sunday, the coaches and Georgia State officials met after the game and decided to change the remainder of the series schedule. Game two of the series will begin as originally scheduled at 12 p.m. (CT) with game three of the series set to begin at 2 p.m. (CT) or 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one of the doubleheader.

Date: 4/12
Place: Robert E. Heck Softball Complex (Decatur, Ga.)

Final Score: South Alabama 14, Georgia State 8
Records: South Alabama (13-25, 3-14 SBC), Georgia State (5-36, 3-14 SBC)

KEY MOMENT OF THE GAME
- With the go-ahead run at the plate and one out in the sixth, Samantha Yarbrough was able to pick up a pair of strikeouts to work out of the jam and maintain South's lead. The Jaguars then broke the game open with six runs the next half inning to take control.

STANDOUT PERFORMERS
- Kamdyn Kvistad was 3-for-4 at the plate – her eighth multi-hit game of the season and the 18th of her Jaguar career – and scored twice.
- Brittani Reid, Victoria Ortiz, Katelyn Gruich, Megan Harris and Kennedy Cronan had two hits apiece. B. Reid and Ortiz also drove in three and scored once, while Cronan had a RBI double and scored once. Harris drove in a run and scored twice, while Gruich recorded her hit her fourth home run of the season and drove in three.
- Abby Krzywiecki walked three times and scored once, and Savanna Mayo scored two times as well.
- Georgia State was led at the plate by Caitlin Ray and Reagan Morgan had two hits apiece and scored a run. Morgan also plated a run.
- Jess Neadow drove in a pair with her two-run, seventh-inning home run.

GAME FACTS
- South Alabama had a scoring opportunity in the opening frame, placing runners at the corners after a leadoff double by B. Reid and a two-out single off the bat of Kvistad, but GSU's Emily Soles (2-12) was able to get a strikeout to end the inning.
- The Panthers took advantage of the missed opportunity and loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit in the bottom half of the first on a hit batter, a Jaguar error and a full-count walk. The first run of the inning came on a RBI ground out by Alyssa Brumelow and then on a wild pitch that scored Morgan from third.
-The Jaguars answered right back with five runs on four hits and a Panther error. South loaded the bases with one out in the second after a fielder's choice and a pair of base hits. B. Reid plated the first run of the inning as pinch runner Caroline Nichols scored on a GSU error. Ortiz then lined her 11th double of the season, this one to the gap in left clearing the bases and making it 4-2 Jags. Cronan then followed with a double of her own off the wall in left center to bring in Ortiz and give South the three-run advantage (5-2).
- After leaving a pair on in the third, South Alabama loaded the bases in the fourth. Kvistad was hit by a one-out pitch and Gruich lined a single down the left field line that just landed in fair territory to put a pair of runners on. Krzywiecki then worked the count full and drew a free pass to load the bases for the Jaguars. The Panthers were able to hold South off the scoreboard though as Jordyn Calderon was thrown out at home on a chopper to third and a fly out to center to end the inning.
- Georgia State cut the deficit to two (5-3) with an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth The Panthers loaded the base after a one-out error and a pair of singles by Ray and Morgan. Olivia Davis then came into score two batters later when Remington Hasty was hit by a pitch.
- South Alabama answered right back again with three runs on four hits in the sixth. Cronan and Kvistad singled to begin the frame and with two outs, the duo came home on Lyric Cabral's two-out double to right center (7-3). Dayla Gulledge followed with a pinch-hit RIB single to score pinch-runner Taylor Stevens (8-3).
- With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Mosel drove a 0-1 pitch from Alexis Reid (9-14) over the wall in center for her second home run of the spring. The Panthers then loaded the bases after a double, four-pitch walk and a single. GSU then plated the second run of the inning on a walk to Morgan and made it 8-6 when Ray scored on a wild pitch.
- After struggling with her control during the first two batters she faced, Yarbrough settled down and got to huge strikeouts against the three and four hitters in the lineup to end the inning and maintain the Jaguar lead. The freshman righty was able to get Kristen Hawkins – the Panthers' leading hitter – swinging and Hasty looking.
- South Alabama used the momentum of the big close to the inning and gained some breathing room with six runs in the top of the seventh and extended its lead out to 14-6. With two aboard, Gruich blasted a 2-0 pitch from Panther reliever Amanda Chance deep over the wall in left to extend the Jag advantage to 11-6. Krzywiecki walked and two batters later Mayo reached on Georgia State's third error of the game. Harris then doubled to right center to score a pair. B. Reid followed with a RBI double of her own, scoring Harris from second to make give South the eight-run lead.
- With one out in the bottom half of the seventh, Neadow homered to left, a two-run shot with one out to trim the deficit to 14-8. Yarbrough would later strikeout Ray swinging for the final out of the contest.

NOTES
- The meeting was the 19th in the all-time series versus Georgia State and the seventh on the Panthers' home field. South now holds a 4-3 advantage in the series at the Robert E. Heck Softball Complex.
- The win snaps a six-game skid for the Jaguars and marks the first game one victory to a Sun Belt series this spring.
- Scoring five runs in the second and six runs in the seventh mark the first time this season that South has had multiple innings of five or more runs in the same game.
- The six-run seventh marks the fifth time USA has scored six or more runs in a single-inning this season.
- The 16 hits by South set a new season high for the club, eclipsing the previous high of 14.
- The six doubles by South Alabama eclipse the previous season best of five set against Texas State on March 15.
- B. Reid tied a career high with two doubles, while Ortiz recorded her 11th double of the season, moving her with Chloe Rathburn for second-most doubles by a freshman in program history.
- The three RBI marked the second time this season B. Reid has driven in that tally this season and the 121th multi-RBI game of her career.
- The two-hit performance was also the 24th of B. Reid's career and extended her club lead to 12 this season. The 12 multi-hit games tie her mark from last season.
- Gruich's seventh-inning home run marked the 35th this season for South. It was the sixth three-run shot this season for the Jaguars and the fourth that has come in the seventh inning.
- Of South's 35 home runs this season, 16 have come in league play and 11 have come on the road.
- South Alabama has now recorded at least one home run in each of its last five games and six of its last seven.
- The three-run home run by Gruich was the ninth of her Jaguar career, and the three RBI tied a season-best for the junior third baseman.
- Gruich now has eight multi-RBI games in her career, four of which have been three or more.
 - The multi-hit outing was the ninth of the season for Cronan and extended her reached base safely streak to a career-best nine games.
- With her three-hit performance against Georgia State on Friday, Kvistad is now 12-for-15 (.800) with two walks against Georgia State pitching in her five career games against the Panthers.
- The three-hit performance also marked the 18th multi-hit game of Kvistad's career, moving her into a three-way tie for 23rd all-time at South in that category.
- The multi-hit game was the 16th of Harris' career.
- Yarbrough struck out four batters in her inning and two-thirds of relief.

THEY SAID IT
Head coach Becky Clark
- On the game one of the series victory: "This was a big win for us today. It was a good way for us to kick off the series. I'm proud of the way our offense worked together and put runs on the board. Tomorrow will be a big day for us. We need to come out and keep our foot on the gas."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Bullpen Club, the softball specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  Members have access to purchase parking passes and receive Jaguar Softball gear.  All donations to the Bullpen Club go directly to support the South Alabama softball program.  For more information on how you can join visit:  jaguarathleticfund.com/bullpenclub.

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