Cougars Pick Up Fifth Straight Win at West Georgia on Wednesday

Carrollton, Ga. -  Columbus State got a strong outing from right-hander David Lane and collected 12 hits as a team in taking a 6-2 road win at West Georgia on Wednesday. The win is the fifth straight for the Cougars and moves them to 6-2 on the season.

CSU got on the board early, picking up single runs in the first and second innings. Wes Adkins singled home Alex Montes in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, and then took advantage of an error on a bunt by Scoop Pharr to plate a run in the second. Montes singled home Cameron Griffin with the unearned run to make it 2-0.

The Cougars stretched the lead to 4-0 with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Mitch Rider singled to score Jason Rogers in the fifth to make it 3-0. Rogers reached on a walk, moved up on an Adkins single and then stole third before Rider's hit brought him home. Eric Weiss rounded the bases in the sixth on a throwing error by the third baseman to push the lead to 4-0.

West Georgia finally got a run off Lane in the bottom of the sixth. Michael Bridges came home as Lane coaxed a double play ball off the bat of Blake Parrott with the bases loaded. Lane got a strikeout to avoid any further damage in the frame.

CSU got a pair of insurance runs in the seventh. Eric Skinner laid down a squeeze bunt to score Ryan Lewis with the first run, and then Pharr brought home Rider with a double to make it 6-1.

Robby Nettles came on in the ninth and allowed a two-out, RBI double to Justin Smith to make it 6-2. Nettles then fanned Bradford Mattox to close the game.

Lane allowed just three hits and one earned run in his eight innings of work. The senior walked one and struck out three. Nettles allowed the one hit with a walk and a strikeout in his inning of work. CSU got two hits each from Montes, Adkins, Lewis, Rider and Pharr in the game. Pharr had a double and Lewis a triple for the Cougars' only two extra-base hits.

The Cougars return home to host a three-game weekend series with Indianapolis, beginning with a Saturday double header at 1 PM at Ragsdale Field.