MOBILE, Ala. | After trailing by five through the first inning-and-a-half, South Alabama rallied back to complete the series sweep as the Jaguars picked up a 9-5 victory over Georgia State Sunday at Jaguar Field.

The Jaguars' (19-9, 3-0 SBC) rally was highlighted by a seven-run third inning in which South recorded six-straight hits, which was highlighted by a three-run home run by Emma Kropp. 

Victoria Ortiz and Gabby Stagner each had a pair of hits and scored a pair of runs. Ortiz tripled and drove in a pair of runs, while Stagner doubled, homered and drove in four for the Jags.

Jenna Hardy (10-5) picked up the win in relief as she tossed five innings of scoreless, three-hit ball, striking out six and lowering her earned run average to 1.46.

Redshirt-senior OF Victoria Ortiz
- On what it says about the team to fall behind and still be able to come back and get the win: 
"It was a really good win for us. We don't want to fall behind in games, but when we are able to come back, it's always a good thing. We're a fighting team, so I'm glad we were able to rally back."

- On capturing the program's career extra-base hit record: 
"I wasn't really thinking about it; I knew I would break it at some point. I'm very thankful for the record because I've had a great support system during my career here at South."

- On what's been working well for her this spring: 
"I've just worked at staying consistent and I just want to keep seeing the zone; that's all I've really focused on. I''ve just tried to make sure that I'm swinging at pitches I'm supposed to be swinging at."

Sophomore 1B Gabby Stagner
- On the team being able to come back from the five-run deficit: 
"No team ever wants to fall behind (like we did), but I'm glad we were able to rally and get those runs back and win the game. I'm really thankful for that."

- On what was going well for her at the plate on Sunday: 
"Today, I just wanted to see a ball that I could drive and get a good swing on. That was my approach at the plate today and it worked out for me."

South Alabama 9, Georgia State 5
Georgia State (10-16, 0-3 SBC) struck first with three runs on four hits in the top of the first. GSU placed a pair of runners in scoring position after a leadoff single by Emily Brown and a one-out double from Chloe Nadler. Bailee Richardson then put the Panthers on top with a double down the left field line to score the pair (0-2). Two batters later, Carolyn Deady singled back up the middle to plate Richardson and give Georgia State a three-run advantage.

Chloe Middlebrooks beat out an infield single with one out in the second, and then stole second to move into scoring position. E. Brown was attempting to move Middlebrooks up a base with a sacrifice bunt, but South's throw to first was high, allowing the run to score (0-4) and Brown to race all the way around to third. The Panthers extended their lead to 5-0 on Richardson's sacrifice fly.

Ortiz tripled off the wall in right to lead off the Jag half of the second and Stagner unloaded on a 2-1 offering for her second home run of the spring, this one over the wall in left center to trim the deficit to three (2-5).

Hardy entered the circle in relief to start the third and sat the Panthers down in order. In the bottom half of the frame, South Alabama answered with a seven-run frame, recording six-straight hits. Meredith Keel walked to lead off the bottom of the third and Mackenzie Brasher and Sasha Willems followed with back-to-back infield singles to load the bases. Ortiz then lined a single to center – her second hit in as many at-bats scoring Keel and Brasher to trim the deficit to one (4-5). Stagner then lined a double to left to plate two more runs and give South its first lead of the afternoon (6-5). Two batters later with a pair on and still nobody out, Kropp then blasted a three-run shot over the wall in right center to put the Jags up 9-5.

Scoring Summary
•    1st Inn | Richardson doubled down the leftfield line, 2 RBI; E. Brown scored and Nadler scored (0-2, GSU)
•    1st Inn | Deady singled up the middle, RBI; Richardson scored (0-3, GSU)
•    2nd Inn | Brown reached on a throwing error by 3b; Middlebrooks scored (0-4, GSU)
•    2nd Inn | Richardson flied out to cf sacrifice, RBI; E. Brown scored, unearned (0-5, GSU)
•    2nd Inn | Stagner homered to left center, 2 RBI; Ortiz scored (2-5, USA)
•    3rd Inn | Ortiz singled to center, 2 RBI; Keel scored and Brasher scored (4-5, USA)
•    3rd Inn | Stagner doubled to left, 2 RBI; Willems scored and Ortiz scored (6-5, USA)
•    3rd Inn | Kropp homered to right center, 3 RBI; Stagner scored and Cordova scored (9-5, USA)

Postgame Notes
•    The win was the fifth straight for the Jags – matching a season best – and the 12th in the last 15 games 
•    The win also marked the 200th Sun Belt Conference victory for the program
•    The series sweep marked the third consecutive season in which the Jags have opened up conference play with a series sweep and the fifth time USA has been 3-0 after the opening weekend of league play
•    The five-run deficit is the third-largest rally by a Jaguar team, and the largest rally by the program since coming back from a six-run deficit at Troy (5/14/21) in the Sun Belt Conference Championship
•    The seven-run third inning by the Jags marked the second time this spring that the club has had a seven-run inning, last doing so in the fourth inning against Bowing Green (3/4/23)
•    South Alabama was a perfect 6-for-6 with runners in scoring position and 7-for-8 with runners on
•    With her second-inning triple, Ortiz (70 – 39-4-27) moved passed Brittany Fowler's (2010-13) previous program mark (69 (34-10-25) for extra-base hits
•    Ortiz also extended her hit streak to five games with the triple, and has had at least one hit in nine of her last 10, registering multi-hit games five times over that stretch
•    Ortiz has driven in at least one run eight of her last 11, recording 14 during that span
•    The multi-hit game was the 39th of Ortiz's career and the 28th multi-RBI game of her career 
•    Stagner's two-run home run was the eighth of her career and came on her 20th birthday
•    Keel extended her current reached base safely streak to six games with her walk to lead off the third inning, and her run scored on the base-hit by Oritz marked the eighth time in her last 11 in which she has scored at least one run
•    Cordova has now had a hit in seven of her last 10 and reached base safely in nine of her last 11 outings
•    Brasher has had a hit in seven of her last 10 and reached base safely in eight of her last nine
•    Willems has had at least one hit 13 of her last 17 games

Up Next
•    South Alabama will begin a four-game road swing on Tuesday at Nicholls. First pitch versus the Colonels is set for 5 p.m. at Swanner Field in Thibodaux, La.

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