AUGUSTA, Ga. – In a Peach Belt Conference rivalry battle that had four lead changes, the Augusta Jaguars snapped a 14-game losing streak against No. 5 USC Aiken with an 8-6 victory on Friday night at Lake Olmstead Stadium. The Jags have won seven straight games and get to 25 wins for the first time in six years.

Augusta (25-11, 14-5 PBC) is ranked No. 6 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Southeast Region poll and second in the PBC, while USC Aiken (30-7, 19-6 PBC) leads the region and conference and is ranked No. 5 in the nation.

This is the first win for Augusta against USCA since March 28, 2012 when the Jags won 12-7 with the pacers ranked No. 4 in the nation.

Jags junior Clint Hardy carded two triples and went 2-5 with a run, senior Nick Rau produced three RBI and a run with a 2-4 day, and senior Connor Gilbert was 2-5 with two runs and an RBI to highlight the Jags offense.

USCA's leadoff man Skylar Mercado went 2-5 at the plate, while Brian Parreira, Mitchell Price, and David Lankster all had two hits apiece. The Pacers outhit Augusta 14-11, but made four errors and couldn't hold off the Jaguars.

In his 10th start of the season, Augusta slinger Tristan Jones (7-2) went 7.0 innings and gave up four runs on 12 hits while striking out five batters.

In the matchup between one and two in the Peach Belt, the Pacers put two men on with back-to-back singles in the third inning and a Chaz Pal double scored the first run of the game.

Hardy led off the bottom half of the third with a standup triple and Gilbert tied the game with a single to the left side to score Hardy and knot the game. One batter later, Rau plated Gilbert with an RBI single for a 2-1 lead.

USCA stole the score again with two runs in the second inning, but Augusta answered with Rau scoring two more on a bases-clearing double. Later in the fifth inning, USCA changed pitchers and Jags junior Tyler Roberts doubled before back-to-back wild pitches gave Augusta an 8-3 advantage.

Erik Davis (3-2) started on the mound for the Pacers and went 4.1 innings to allow nine hits for five runs (three earned). Connor Riley entered from the bullpen in the fifth inning for Aiken and tossed an inning before Cole Lee came in to close it out.

Jones was relieved in the eighth inning by sophomore Casey Lenoch who recorded one inning out of the bullpen. Up by three in the ninth inning, Augusta went to lefty closer Frank Warren who got his fifth save of the year to hold off the Pacers with a game-ending strikeout.

The Jags host game two of the series on Saturday, April 9 at 2:00 p.m. and game three on Sunday, April 10 at 1:00 p.m.

Fans of Jaguar Athletics can subscribe to the email listserve by clicking here. Fans can follow Augusta University at www.AugustaJags.com and receive short updates on Facebook at Augusta University Athletics and on Twitter at @AugustaJags

-- 30 --