#10 Columbus State Drops 6-2 Contest to Saint Leo

Saint Leo, FL – Ryan Powers hit a three-run homerun to break a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the seventh inning to propel Saint Leo to a 6-2 victory over No. 10 Columbus State Saturday afternoon at Southard Stadium.  The loss drops CSU to 3-2 on the season while the Lions improve to 2-1.

St. Leo got on the board first scoring a pair of runs in the first inning off a two-run single by catcher Jason Hamm.

The Cougars responded right back in the top half of the second when Mitch Rider blasted a solo homerun to begin the inning.

Both pitchers settled down after the shaky start as both teams were held scoreless until the top of the sixth inning. 

Columbus State again used the long ball, this time off the bat of Bruce Alter as he stroked a one-out solo homerun to leftfield.  Logan Dollar followed that up with a single through the right side.  Rider struck once more ripping a double in the right-centerfield gap.  Dollar tried to score all the way from first but was thrown out at the plate.  The rally ended with a strikeout after a walk to Scoop Pharr.

With two outs in the seventh inning, Powers sent his first homerun of the season over the leftfield wall to give the Lions a 5-2 lead after seven innings of play.  St. Leo tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning off a Dustin Brown homerun.

Rider went 3-for-4 as he was the only Cougar with a multi-hit performance.  Alter, Dollar, Cameron Griffin, Navarro Hall and Eric Skinner each picked up a hit for CSU in the game.  Thomas Campbell tossed seven innings surrendering five runs on nine hits and one walk.  He also struck out 11.  Brian Satterfield threw an inning in relief giving up one run and striking out one.

The middle of the St. Leo lineup supplied all the offense as the 3-4-5 hitters went a combined 6-for-11 and drove in all six runs.  Brown was 3-for-4, Hamm went 2-for-4 and Powers went 1-for-3 with a walk.  Aaron Brandt started the contest for the Lions working 5.2 innings giving up two runs on eight hits and one walk.  Cody Johnson picked up the win working 1.1 innings of scoreless ball while Marshall Stalvey also was solid in relief tossing two scoreless innings.

Columbus State will play the second game of the doubleheader versus Saint Leo after a break between games.