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By: Josh Fuller

YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. – Caleb Kutsche threw a complete game as the Columbus State University baseball team defeated Young Harris 7-1 Friday afternoon. The Peach Belt Conference game took place at Zell B. Miller Field in Young Harris, Ga.

Kutsche (1-0) needed just 82 pitches, 63 for strikes, in the nine inning effort. The junior allowed just one run on five hits while striking out seven. It is the first complete game in Kutsche's Cougar career.

"Caleb threw very well today," said head coach Greg Appleton. "He located the ball on both sides of the plate and wasn't afraid to let his defense play behind him. We have to finish out the series tomorrow to start out conference play on the right foot."

Columbus State (6-2, 1-0 PBC) scored all the runs it would need in the top of the first putting a two spot on the board. Blake Edwards began the game with an infield hit before Jackson Oliver drew a walk. After a fly out, CSU pulled off a double steal to put both runners in scoring position. With two outs, Christian Miller came through with a sharp single up the middle scoring both Edwards and Oliver to put the Cougars up 2-0.

Kutsche flew through the first two innings allowing just one hit before running into trouble in the third. Troy Kizer was hit by a pitch to begin the inning before he went base-to-base on a sacrifice bunt and a fly out to right. With the lineup turned over, leadoff batter Nick Sexton sent one right back up the middle to cut the Cougar lead in half.

From there, Kutsche rolled retiring the next 11 batters he faced until a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh. However, the double never came back to haunt CSU as Kutsche struck out Zach Beggs and got a weak grounder back to the mound from Luke Miller to end the inning.

Young Harris (4-4, 0-1) got singles in both the eighth and ninth innings, but Kutsche finished out the complete game effort.

The Cougars scored a single run in the fifth before putting the game away with a pair of runs in the seventh and eighth innings. In the fifth, Edwards led off with a double before Oliver chased him in with a single. Hunter Bowling and Tyler Fichter each had run-scoring hits in the seventh while Matt Nettles hit his team leading third home run in the eighth. Grant Berry capped off the scoring with a RBI double.

Edwards continued his torrid start to the season going 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored. Miller drove in a pair while Ryan Ihle extended his hitting streak to eight games with a 1-for-5 performance.

Zach Wall had three of the five YHC hits in the game.

Donald Frew (0-2) took the loss allowing three runs in four innings of work.

Schedule Update

Due to threat of rain on Sunday, the series schedule has been altered. The two teams will now play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m.