South Alabama scored five runs in the 10th inning and walked away with a 8-3 win over Troy on Thursday in game one of the final series of the regular season.

The game was billed as a one that was supposed to be owned by the pitching staff, and other than the 10th inning they didn’t disappoint.

Jaguars starter Kevin Hill pitched five innings on Friday, while Troy starter Grant Bennett lasted six.

In the end the game came down to whoever would make the fewest. That ended up being South Alabama.

“It’s a cruel game,” said Trojans head coach Mark Smartt. “I thought we deserved to win the game. We had chances throughout the game, but we made many mistakes that don’t make it to the box score. We had plenty of chances to run Hill out of the game early, just couldn’t do it.”

During Bennett’s six innings of work, the senior allowed three runs on six hits and struck out six. As for Hill, his five innings outing was the shortest of his season. He allowed three runs on seven hits and he struck out three.

Corey Childress came in for the Trojans in the sixth inning and pitched the final four innings of the contest.

The Jaguars jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on the Trojans starter. The Jaguars had the first two runners reach on a lead off walk and a base hit. After a sacrifice bunt by Travis Swaggerty, Brendan Donovan cleared the bases with a double down the right field line.

The Trojans quickly cut the deficit in half in the bottom half of the first inning. Justin Friend singled through the left side to score Steven Whitaker from second base. The Trojans came back to even the score in the second inning when Peyton Fuller singled in TJ Binder. The Trojans threatened to take the lead but they grounded into an inning double play with the bases loaded.

Both teams struggled to string together hits over the next few innings. The Trojans were able to push across a run in the fifth inning to take the one run lead.

Whitaker picked up his second hit of the game to lead off the inning and after a sacrifice but and wild pitch he found himself on third base. Joey Denison picked the big hit for the Trojans when singled to right field to give the Trojans their first lead of the game.

The Jaguars didn’t waste anytime to even the score. They had two hits in the inning including an RBI double by Danny Martinez.

A key heading into the game for the Trojans was to take advantage of scoring opportunities. Troy teams struggled with that, stranding nine runners.

“We made mistakes and they didn’t,” Smartt said. “They didn’t make an error, and they didn’t make a running mistake. They didn’t strike out with runners in scoring position and we did all those things. That’s the difference in a win and a loss at this level.”

The Trojans had a golden opportunity to win the game in the ninth when they loaded the bases with singles. With one out in the inning, Matt Sanders struck out and Friend hit a wicked liner to third to end the threat.

The Jaguars took the opportunity and ran with it in the 10th they scored five runs on five hits including a three run homerun off the bat of Drew Labounty. All five runs came with two outs in the inning.

The Trojans and Jaguars will turn around and play game two of the series at 6 p.m. today.