CROWE HOP: JSU's Carson Crowe homer on his final home at-bat gives Gamecocks a sweep

May 14—JACKSONVILLE — This one didn't go foul. Far from it.

In his final at-bat at Jim Case Stadium, Jacksonville State senior Carson Crowe belted a no-doubt home run to right-center field, lifting the Gamecocks to a 6-5 win over Central Arkansas on Sunday. The two teams were tied 5-5 before Crowe's eighth-inning solo shot, which gave the Gamecocks a three-game sweep.

"That was best ending I could've had," Crowe said afterward, with a big grin on his face.

He added, "I was sitting fastball the whole time. I knew he was going to try to sneak a fastball to get a strike, then start working the off-speed. So I was sitting fastball, and he just left it right down the middle. I put a good swing on it."

Until his eighth-inning solo shot, it looked like Crowe might go through his final homestand as a JSU player without a home run.

In a three-game sweep of UCA, Crowe had a single, a double and an entertaining no-doubt shot Friday night that the left-handed pull hitter slugged foul down the right-field line.

At first, the umpires ruled it fair, and Crowe circled the bases. After a request from the UCA coaches for the umpires to confer, they did and ruled it foul. Crowe's family didn't appreciate that, with Carson's father, Greg Crowe, shouting his displeasure to the home-plate umpire.

After the game, Greg asked Carson about the would-be home run, and Carson told him, "Oh, it was 30 feet foul."

The next morning, Greg Crowe saw the umpire at the hotel and apologized.

Said Carson Crowe on the foul ball: "When I hit it, I thought it might stay fair, but it jumped off to the right a little bit. I knew it was foul the whole way."

In the end, Carson Crowe said he's satisfied to have the home run that counted — the 33rd of his JSU career, which ranks 11th in school history.

"I'm just glad to help my team out and come up in a clutch situation and actually perform," he said. "I'm glad to come through for my team and get the win tonight."

The blast came on a 1-0 count, and nobody was less surprised that Crowe hit it so far than JSU head coach Jim Case.

"He's a guy, you may get him, but the next time he's going to be just as dangerous," Case said. "Every time he steps up to the plate, there's a factor that he may hit a ball out of here. That's what he does for us, and he did it at a huge time."

Case gave plenty of praise to three others who made a difference Sunday:

—Trey Fortner pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief in the seventh and eighth, and while he allowed a run, Case said he settled the situation and kept JSU in the game. He got the win to improve to 2-5.

"Trey Fortner, coming in and holding down the fort, no pun intended," Case said, before adding: "When Fort came in, he did a real nice job. Fort gave up some base hits, but Fort gets groundballs, and sometimes those groundballs go through."

—Will Baker pitched the ninth and didn't allow a run to get his third save. He had pitched four shutout innings Friday, and ordinarily, Case wouldn't have used him two days later.

"Baker wanted the ball," Case said. "He wanted it real bad. It's something we don't do a whole lot, but when it's this time of year and the games mean what they mean, we decided to go ahead and do that."

—With one out and a runner on first in the ninth inning, the Bears' Mason King hit a drive to left field. Mason Maners, with the late afternoon sun shining in his face, tracked down the ball for the catch.

"I thought the play that was made in left field in the ninth inning was a huge, huge play by Maners," Case said. "We kind of get used to that by him."

What to know

—T.J. Reeves went 2-for-4 with a triple, a home run and three RBIs. He capped an amazing weekend in which he went 6-for-14 with four home runs, 13 RBIs and a 1.429 slugging percentage.

—JSU (25-25, 18-9 ASUN) is tied for third in the league standings. Heading into the final weekend of the season with three games left for everyone, the Gamecocks are tied with Stetson (30-21, 18-9) for third. Lipscomb (30-22, 20-7) is in first, while Florida Gulf Coast (37-14, 19-8) is second. The top eight teams make the ASUN tournament, but while the first-place team gets the top seed, the rest of the seeding is decided by RPI. JSU is ninth in the ASUN in RPI.

—Javon Hernandez went 2-for-4 on Sunday and was 5-for-10 for the series.

—Maners went 2-for-3 with a walk. He had two homers in the series, which gives him 12 for the season. Reeves has 15, and the last time JSU had two teammates combine for more home runs than these two is 2012. Ben Waldrip had 18 and Kyle Bluestein 10 for a combined 28.

—Sunday was JSU's first one-run game of the season.

Who said

—Case on hopes of winning the ASUN Conference regular-season crown: "As I told our team, we're going at it to try to win the thing. Until we are told that mathematically we can't do it, we're going out to try to win it. When you come here, the reason you do is to try to win championships. Going to the tournament is great, and we're proud we're going, but the reason our guys come here is to try to win championships."

—Case on Derrick Jackson Jr. who hit a solo homer and made a catch over the railing of a foul ball to end Sunday's win: "It kind of shows when he was out early this season (with an injury). It shows what we were missing a little bit. He brings such a good work ethic. He does things the right way and works very, very hard."

—Crowe on the sweep: "Central Arkansas is a scrappy team. They're a very good team. For us to come out here and sweep them, it shows we're ready. We're playing our best ball right now. We're ready for the tournament, and we're ready to get after it."

Next up

—JSU will visit Lipscomb for a three-game series this weekend. They'll play Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.

Senior Editor Mark Edwards: 256-235-3570. On Twitter: @MarkSportsStar.