Meet the Coaches
HEAD COACH
JIM CASE
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21st Season Louisiana Tech, 1982 No other team has experienced the success over the last 20 years in the Ohio Valley Conference than Jim Case has enjoyed. He now leads the program back to the ASUN where the program’s NCAA Division I roots began. His Jacksonville State baseball teams won seven Ohio Valley Conference Championships; won more OVC games during that 16-year span than any other team in the league; won three OVC Coach of the Year Awards; and the Gamecocks played in the OVC Tournament Championship game 10 out of 16 years. Case, who was named the 2019, 2008 and 2005 Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year, has posted a 593-472 overall record, but has an impressive 285-158 record against OVC opponents. He is the dean of coaches in the league and ranks sixth all-time in the OVC in wins and has the most conference wins of any active coach in the OVC.
standings in 13 of the 15 seasons in the OVC. One of the highlights of the 2018 campaign was the chase for the program’s all-time career hits record and the OVC’s record for hits in a career by Clayton Daniel. Daniel, entered his final season as a Gamecock with 247 career hits, 76 shy of the record, held by Bert Smith, who played for Case from 2006-2010. Daniel matched Smith’s career mark on the final day of the regular season against SIU Edwardsville on May 19. He broke the record on the same day with his second hit of the day. Daniel concluded his career with 330 hits, including 69 career doubles, which is also a new career standard at JSU and in the OVC. With Daniel the new career hits leader at JSU and in the OVC, Case has mentored the top-two hitters all-time at JSU and in the OVC. The Jax State pitching staff, under the guidance of Case, was once again one of the best in the OVC in 2018. JSU led the league in earned run average for the second consecutive year with a staff ERA of 4.91 overall and ranked third in OVC-only games at 4.99. The Gamecock pitchers established a new JSU record for strikeouts in a single season with 505 strikeouts in 57 games, surpassing the previous mark of 485 set in 2004. JSU posted eight shutout wins, including a 4-0 win at Alabama in 2018. The trio of Colton Pate, Grant Chandler and Trent Simpson combined for the program’s first no hitter since 2000. The trip blanked Radford, 5-0,on February 23, 2018. Pate wrapped up his career at JSU with a complete game shutout of Southeast Missouri in the 2018 OVC Baseball Championship. It was the first complete game shutout by a Gamecock since former Gamecock Hunter Rivers blanked SIUE on April 30, 2011 (7-inning game). It is JSU’s first nine-inning complete game shutout by a JSU pitcher since joining the league in 2004. Daniel became a four-time All-OVC selection following the 2018 season and was joined by All-OVC selections Trent Simpson and Garrett Farmer. JSU placed a league-best three on the All-OVC Freshman Team. The 2017 season was a different type of season for Case and the Gamecocks as Jax State’s Rudy Abbott Field underwent a major renovation process that forced the program to play its home games off campus at Choccolocco Park in nearby Oxford, Alabama. The Gamecocks played 20 games in the facility while playing 36 road games, including the first 10 games on the road. JSU finished the road-heavy schedule with a 30-26 overall record and a 17-10 mark in the league. JSU turned in a third-place finish in the league standings. The 2017 club was anchored by the league’s top pitching staff. The Gamecocks paced the league in pitching with a league-best 5.11 earned run average and ranked third in total strikeouts with 484. Under Case’s watch, Joe McGuire became the first Gamecock hurler to be named the OVC Pitcher of the Year. McGuire led the OVC in ERA with a 3.20 mark in all games and he led the conference in opposing batting average with a .209 average against him. McGuire was one of two pitchers in the JSU weekend rotation that received conference honors as Derrick Adams was a Second Team All-OVC selection. Justin Hoyt was an All-OVC selection as a relief guy. JSU’s Clayton Daniel earned All-OVC honors for the third time. The Gamecocks placed a pair of freshmen on the league’s All-Newcomer Team in Chase Robinson and Andrew Naismith. Naismith collected additional postseason honors as a Freshman All-American honoree by Collegiate Baseball.
JSU’s final season in the OVC was highlighted by Case collecting his 600th career win. The Gamecocks handed him the milestone victory on March 13 with an 8-2 win over in-state foe South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. A trademark for Case’s clubs in the OVC was having one of the top pitching staffs in the league. The 2021 season was no different as the Jax State pitching staff once again led the league in earned run average with a 4.30 mark in overall games and an impressive 3.96 ERA in the 30 OVC games. JSU collected the program’s 19th no-hitter with a combined effort from Colin Casey, Jackson Tavel and Corley Woods to blank Tennessee Tech, 5-0, on March 27. The Gamecocks also led the OVC offensively with a league-best .281 average at the plate. JSU ranked among the best in the league defensively with a fielding percentage of .973. He also tutored another Major League Baseball draft pick in Christian Edwards. Edwards was selected by the Chicago White Sox in In 2017, JSU traveled to Tuscaloosa, Alabama twice to face Southeastern Conference foe the 11th round of the 2021 MLB Draft. Alabama and left the Sewell-Thomas Stadium with a pair of wins over the in-state rival. JSU won a 2-1, 10-inning decision over the Crimson Tide and completed the two-game set sweep Case’s 19th season and JSU’s 2020 campaign came to an abrupt halt after 15 games due with an 11-8 win on April 25. The first win snapped an 11-game skid against UA. With to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak around the world. The Gamecocks played 11 of its 15 both wins, it marked the first time since 1980 that Jax State has won consecutive games games on its home turf of Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium. JSU opened the 2019 over the Crimson Tide in a single season. season hosting Southeastern Conference foe Missouri in a three-game set along with home weekend sets with Central Michigan and Gardner-Webb. Jax State’s final game of the seaIn 2016, The Jacksonville State baseball team earned its 13th straight appearance in the son was a 15-inning, 14-10 marathon win over Kennesaw State on the road. Ohio Valley Conference Baseball Championship this past spring. The Gamecocks have made the postseason event every year the program has been associated with the OVC. JSU The 2019 season will be noted as one of the historic seasons in the program’s history. The swept a three-game weekend series on the final weekend of the regular season against UT Gamecocks claimed both the regular season and tournament crowns en route to earning Martin to earn the No. 2 seed in the six-team field and a bye in the opening round of the JSU’s fifth trip to an NCAA Regional. JSU put together a 39-win season, which is the most tournament. The Gamecocks opened the tournament with a win over Austin Peay before wins by the program in its NCAA Division I era. The 2019 club recorded the program’s knocking off top-seeded and regular season champion Southeast Missouri to advance to the first NCAA Division I Regional win with a 7-5 win over Big 10 foe Illinois to remain alive in the Oxford, Mississippi regional. After dispatching the Fighting Illini, the Gamecocks ousted championship round of the tournament. Jax State found itself in a familiar place in the tournament with its ninth trip to the championship round in the 13 years at the tournament. Clemson to reach the regional championship round. By reaching the championship of the NCAA Oxford Regional, JSU was one of nine No. 4 seeds to advance to the title round since JSU finished the season 34-24 and 20-10 mark in the league Case. The 30-plus wins is the 2013 and the only one in 2019 edition of the NCAA Tournament and one of 32 teams left 32nd season in JSU’s history to post 30 or more wins and the 13th time under Case since in the regional final round. The Gamecocks finished the season winning 14 of the final 16 he took over the program in 2002. The 20 conference win is the third time since joining games, including one of the longest winning streaks in NCAA Division I Baseball entering the league and the first since 2013. As a team the Gamecocks ranked first nationally in the regional round. The Gamecocks put together a 12-game winning streak before falling to doubles/game (2.5), fifth in scoring (8.3/game) and runs (481), 11th in hits (679) and 13th the Rebels on Friday. in batting average (.313). Daniel earned a pair of All-American honors (Louisville Slugger and NCBWA) after hitting .372 with 93 hits, 56 runs, 20 doubles, 54 RBI and seven stolen The veteran leader on the diamond collected his 500th career win on April 4, 2016 with bases in 58 games. He was the toughest player in the OVC (and eighth nationally) to strikeJSU’s 12-6 come-from-behind win over UAB at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama. Case out, with only 13 strikeouts in 250 at-bats. became the third current OVC coach to have 500-plus wins in a career, joining Belmont’s Dave Jarvis. Case also became the first current OVC skipper to record 500 wins at one JSU’s Paschal Petrongolo was named to the Senior CLASS Award All-American second team, school. He has spent 40 seasons on the baseball diamond as either a player or coach. announced in June by the Senior CLASS Award committee. Petrongolo is one of 10 baseball student-athletes in the nation to earn the prestigious honor, given to NCAA Division I The 2018 season was the program’s 34th 30-plus wins campaign since the 1971 season seniors that have notable achievements in community, classroom, character and competiand the 15th under Case. Jax State has now posted 30 or more wins in a season in 14 of tion. the last 15 seasons. The Gamecocks fished 32-25 overall and 18-12 in OVC play. Jax State finished tied for third with Morehead State and has finished in the top-three in the league In 2015, Case directed his club to the program’s 12th consecutive trip to the OVC
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2022 Gamecock Baseball Media Guide
