EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Jacksonville State completed the sweep of a three-game Ohio Valley Conference baseball series from SIUE with a 9-6 win Saturday at Simmons Baseball Complex.

The Cougars dropped to 0-12 overall and 0-3 in OVC play with the loss. JSU improved to 9-5 overall and 3-0 in the league.

The Gamecocks capitalized on two Cougar errors to score three unearned runs in Saturday's finale, erasing a three-run deficit.

"We have to play better defense," SIUE Head Coach Tony Stoecklin said. "We had too many unearned runs this weekend. The unearned runs cost us two games. Game one was lost by unearned runs and the same in this game. Unearned runs hurt us."

Jarrett Bednar (0-4) started for SIUE and pitched into the seventh inning, in the longest outing by a Cougar starting pitcher this year. He allowed five runs, three earned, on six hits. He walked just one and struck out six.

"He was fantastic," Stoecklin said. "Jarrett deserved a better fate. Our defense let him down.

"He had good stuff and he was aggressive with it," Stoecklin added. "He attacked hitters. He did exactly what we wanted him to do. (Jacksonville State) is a good hitting team and he basically picked them apart for six innings. I'm pleased with his performance."

The Cougars built a 4-1 lead, scoring twice in the first inning against JSU starter Colton Pate. Skyler Geissinger and Jackson Layton each had RBI-singles in the first inning. Logan Andersen was hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth inning and Keaton Wright followed with a long home run to centerfield to give SIUE to the three-run lead and chase Pate from the game.

Josh Bobo homered in the top of the fifth inning and the Gamecocks added two runs in the sixth on three consecutive hits. JSU shortstop Taylor Hawthorne tripled to drive home two.

In the seventh inning, Hayden White reached on an error to start the inning before Bednar walked Ty Pierce. Zach Malach relieved Bednar to pitch to the top of the JSU lineup. Gavin Golsan laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over before Clayton Daniel hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score White. Paschal Petrongolo reached on an error and Tyler Gamble and Elliott McCummings each singled. Pierce scored on the McCummings hit to make it a 6-4 Jacksonville State.

Wright connected for his second home run of the game in the seventh to trim the lead to 6-5.

JSU scored a run in the eighth and added two more in the ninth to go up 9-5. The Cougars banged out three consecutive two-out hits in the bottom of the ninth inning including an RBI hit by Layton to get it to 9-6. JSU closer Justin Hoyt recorded the final out to close out the game.

Wright finished 3 for 4 with the pair of home runs and three RBIs. Geissinger was 3 for 5 with an RBI. Layton was 2 for 5 with two RBIs and Dustin Woodcock was 3 for 5.

"We're just not clicking on all cylinders yet," Stoecklin said. "There were some bright spots. Keaton Wright was a bright spot today. Geissinger took good at-bats. Woodcock took good at-bats. The middle of our lineup did really well."

McCummings was 4 for 4 with the RBI and Gamble finished 3 for 5 with the homer for JSU.

Garrett Farmer (1-0) tossed three innings in relief to earn the win for Jacksonville State. He allowed a run on three hits and struck out three.

The Cougars play host to Evansville in a Wednesday night game before resuming OVC play with a three-game road series beginning Friday at Murray State.

"All is not lost; we're three games into a 30-game schedule," Stoecklin said. "Obviously we have to start getting better and making some adjustments. We have to play a complete game. You have to be able to put quality pitching, quality fielding and quality hitting together to do well in this league. If you only have two of the three it's going to be hard to win."