COLUMBUS, Ga. – Columbus State University continued to have its way with Flagler College at Ragsdale Field as the Cougars swept a Peach Belt Conference baseball doubleheader from the No. 8 (
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Top 30) Saints, 9-4 and 5-4, Saturday afternoon.
Columbus State raised its record to 20-10 overall and 8-9 in the Peach Belt. The Cougars hold an 8-1 record against the Saints in Columbus. Flagler saw its five-game winning streak stopped as it fell to 23-6 overall and 11-5 in conference play.
In the opener, Flagler held a 4-1 lead through three innings of play.
Andrew Brodbeck and
Kolin McMillen had back-to-back RBI-singles in the Saints' three-run second inning and
Nick Kranick scored an unearned run in the third.
The Cougars struck for two in the fifth to pull to within a run, 4-3. Then, in the sixth inning, Columbus State struck for four runs on five hits and sent nine men to the plate to grab the lead.
Columbus State strung four consecutive hits together to knock Flagler starter
Danny Brown (6-3) out of the game. Chris Daniel, Matt Nettles and Carson Bowers each started the inning with consecutive singles. Bowers drove in Daniel with his single. Blake Edwards doubled to left which scored Nettles and gave Columbus State a 5-4 lead. The next batter, Tim Massengale, greeted Flagler reliever
Chris Lake with a two-run single to push the lead to 7-4.
The Cougars added two more runs in the seventh inning.
Jake Ezell (4-1) overcame a shaky start and tossed seven innings to earn the win. He scattered five hits, allowed three earned runs, walked seven and struck out nine. After the third inning, he only allowed five base runners. Caden Ferguson threw two scoreless innings in relief.
Eleven of the Cougars' 14 hits came from the 5-9 hitters in the line-up. Bowers went 4-for-4 and was a home run shy of the cycle as he scored three runs and knocked in two runs. Daniel and Nettles each collected two singles and scored two runs. Edwards had a single, a double, two runs scored and three runs batted in.
Brown surrendered 10 hits and seven runs, but struck out eight batters. Lake and
Justin Ratte finished the game.
Brodbeck, McMillen,
Shawn Hendon,
Skylar Fox and
Igor Baez all had singles for the Saints.
In game two, the Cougars won in walk-off style, but with a sacrifice fly.
Tied at 4-all going into the bottom of the ninth, Flagler brought in
Michael Hanke (2-1) to keep the game tied. Edwards led off the ninth with a single through the left side of the infield. Joey Lewis stepped in as a pinch hitter and drew a four-pitch walk. During one of those balls, a wild pitch was thrown that got Edwards to second base. Edwards took third on another wild pitch, but Lewis held at first base. Brendan Collins drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases with nobody out.
MacLain Larson came on to try and get out of a bases loaded jam and the first pitch he threw to Jackson Oliver was hit deep enough to right field to score Edwards and end the game.
Flagler had scored single runs in the second and third innings, the latter tied the game at 2-all on an RBI-single by Kranick.
The Saints took a brief 3-2 lead with a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Hendon.
Columbus State took the lead back, 4-3, with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth.
The Saints tied the game in the eighth on an unearned run.
Lorenzo Butler singled home pinch runner
Bryce Evans who came on to run for
Jabe Molinaro who had singled to right-center.
Trey Watson (1-2) got the win in relief as he tossed one-third of an inning. He was the last of four pitchers used by the Cougars. Mike McGinnity started and lasted 4.1 innings and scattered 11 hits and allowed three runs.
Edwards collected two singles, scored two runs and drove in a pair of runs. Nettles went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
Hanke took the loss after facing three batters and did not retire any. He allowed a hit and was responsible for the runner who scored the game-winning run.
Mike O'Reilly tossed eight complete innings, scattered seven hits, allowed four runs, walked three and fanned seven.
The Saints out-hit the Cougars 18-8, but stranded 14 runners, nine of which were in scoring position. Kranick singled three times and drove in a run. Hendon went 3-for-4 with a double, scored a run and had one RBI. Butler went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Flagler will look to salvage the rubber game tomorrow (March 29) at 1 p.m.
