JSU baseball: Carignan continues to swing hot bat, but Gamecocks lose second straight to EKU

Apr. 3—JACKSONVILLE — Jacksonville State's Alex Carignan says he's fully healthy, and he's heating up at the plate as a result.

The senior catcher from Murfreesboro, Tenn., was responsible for the Gamecocks' lone run in a 13-1 loss to Eastern Kentucky at Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium on Saturday. Carignan hit a solo home run — his second of the season — in the bottom of the second inning and finished the night 2-for-4.

It continued a strong run of late for Carignan. Over his last six games, he has a .409 batting average.

That's a vast difference from where he was early in the season. After starting JSU's season opener against Kentucky, Carignan missed the next five games with an oblique injury. He struggled after returning to the lineup. Through his first ten games, he was hitting .154.

"It's one of those things where I've always been a guy that makes a lot of contact, and I was starting to swing and miss," he said. "For somebody that's never done that, you are kind of like, 'Is there a hole in my bat, you know, what's going on?'

"As you get healthier, and you're able to take more swings on off days when you don't have games, you know, things start clicking."

Things started clicking for Carignan last weekend against North Alabama. He finished the three-game series 5-for-11 with four RBIs.

It's carried over into this weekend's series against EKU. He's 4-for-8 with two RBIs in two games against the Colonels.

It simply took Carignan a little time to get back in the grove. His batting average is now up to .246 for the season.

"I've never really taken more than a week off of hitting in my life. With the oblique injury, I was forced to take some time off. When I came back, the swing felt funky, it felt off. I hadn't seen live pitching. I was getting pitched a little differently, hitting in the four-hole, which I hadn't done a whole lot prior.

"But I think just that level of comfortability is coming back, you know, feeling better."

As for what head coach Jim Case had to say about Carignan's turnaround: "I think character always comes to the top."

What to know

—JSU's pitching staff struggled mightily Saturday night, as seven Gamecocks combined to allow 13 earned runs on 17 hits and 12 walks. The lone bright spot was Trey Fortner, who came in for an injured Cole Turner, and allowed one hit and one walk over 1 1/3 innings. The junior from Gloucester, Va., has given up just two hits and two walks over 10 1/3 scoreless innings during his last four appearances.

—T.J. Reeves singled in the bottom of the fourth inning. He's now reached base in 14 straight contests. Reeves and Brooks Bryan finished the game 1-for-3. Mason Maners and Cole Frederick both went 1-for-4.

—Kendal Ewell led the Colonels at the plate, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. He went 3-for-4 with three runs, four RBIs and two walks. His three-run homer off of Reid Fagerstrom in the top of the fourth broke the game open, giving EKU a 6-1 lead. That was plenty of run support for Rese Brown, who allowed five hits and two walks over eight innings pitched.

Who said

—Case on Fortner's 10-inning scoreless streak: "That's kind of what we expect from him. A guy that's a veteran, and he's going to go out, and even in a tough circumstance, he's going to do his job."

—Case on what the Gamecocks need to do to bounce back: "I think it's important for starting pitching to go out and get the game going under control and give us a chance to play from the front instead of the rear. They've proven that they do a good job playing from the front. I want to see what happens when they play from the rear."

Next up

—JSU (12-13, 6-2 ASUN) entered the weekend with a one-game lead in the West Division standings. The Gamecocks now trail EKU (20-8, 7-1) by one game. The finale of the three-game set is today at 1 p.m.

Assistant Sports Editor Jared Gravette: 256-235-3572. On Twitter: @Jared_Gravette.