JSU baseball: Frederick starts fast, and so do Gamecocks in Sunday win over Belmont

Apr. 11—JACKSONVILLE — Jim Case has often said that Cole Frederick can play just about any position on the field. This year, he's applying that to the batting order.

After batting leadoff exactly twice in his JSU career, Frederick has occupied the top spot in all but four of the Gamecocks' games this year. It's worked out well, especially when he gets on base in JSU's first at-bat.

He singled to open Sunday's 7-2 win over Belmont, and eventually scored on Alex Webb's single to right field.

"Leadoff? I've grown to like leadoff," said Frederick, who finished 2-for-5 with an RBI.

In JSU's last four wins and five of the past seven, Frederick has gotten on base in the first inning.

Frederick reaching quickly was especially important Sunday as JSU had wanted to start fast to take control of Game 3 of its three-game series with Belmont. The two teams split two games Saturday, so Sunday's win gave the Gamecocks the series win.

"I feel like if I get on base the first inning, the majority of times we score if we get that leadoff man on," said Frederick, who's hitting .273 overall and .292 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

"Whether it's Webb, Tre (Kirklin), Zeth (Malcom), they always find a way to get that big hit in the first inning. That's huge to come out and get ahead early."

Case said he has Frederick batting leadoff mostly because he's the best for the position. In 2019, he batted second almost all year, and in 2020, he mostly batted third in the order.

"I think he's becoming more of a leadoff man, like in the first inning when he shoots the ball through the right side," Case said. "He's being more comfortable being in the leadoff position. He's the best thing we have for that job."

JSU also managed two runs in the second inning, which gave starting pitcher Colin Casey a 3-0 cushion early. Casey (3-2) wound up working 5 1/3 innings and had a shutout going until giving up two runs in the sixth inning.

"I thought Colin was really good," Case said. "First five innings were really good. Gave up one hit, and didn't really have a hard-hit ball."

In the bottom of the fifth, JSU tacked on three more runs, and Belmont tried to combat the Gamecocks' attack by changing pitchers three times.

"We scored three runs, but we were over here for 35, 40 minutes," Case said. "It's a great thing, but the inning took forever. When he went back out, I thought it was different."

Jake Peppers followed by pitching 1 2/3 innings but after allowing the leadoff runner to get on base in the eighth inning, Case turned to Kyle Luigs, who's especially tough on left-handed batters. He got left-hander John Behrends to ground into a double play and then got left-handed hitter Logan Jarvis out to end the inning.

Luigs pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to end the game.

What to know

—JSU (15-15, 7-5 OVC) is now tied for third place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings. Morehead State, which is 6-3 in the league, is in first place.

—Frederick finished the series 4-for-13 with three RBIs. Carson Crowe was 4-for-9 with a pair of doubles and three walks, including two intentional walks Sunday.

—Webb went 3-for-5 with an RBI on Sunday and was 4-for-12 with two RBIs for the series. Alex Carignan was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Who said

—Frederick on needing the fast start Sunday: "Yesterday, Game 1, we came out ready. Game 2, it was kind of lackadaisical. I don't know if it was the second game that got to us, but we wanted to make sure we came out today and turned things around."

—Frederick on playing shortstop instead of his normal position of second base, while starting shortstop Isaac Alexander recovers from a thigh injury: "Obviously, we'd love to have Isaac back, but I was our backup, and I got reps all fall and spring, just in case something happened. I was ready for it. The coaches did a great job of getting me ready."

—Case on the importance of winning two of three against Belmont (13-16, 7-8), the OVC preseason favorite: "I wish we could've found a way to get the other one, but if you win series, if you keep doing that, you're going to be OK. We need to be about winning series."

Next up

—JSU will host Kennesaw State on Tuesday at 6 p.m., followed by a three-game series at Eastern Kentucky on Friday and Saturday.

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