COLUMBUS – The Columbus State University baseball team scored six runs in the fourth and a pair in three other innings as the Cougars snapped a three-game losing streak with a 12-4 victory over Auburn Montgomery Wednesday. The non-conference game took place at Burger King Stadium at Ragsdale Field.

CSU scored two runs in the first, third and sixth to go along with its outburst in the fourth. It was the 13^th time this year that the Cougars scored over 10 runs in a game this season.

"It was great to see us swinging the bat tonight after last weekend," said head coach Greg Appleton. "We needed to rebound and that is exactly what we did tonight against a very good AUM team."

It was a great start to the game for Columbus State (23-10) as Luke Porter retired the side in order in the top of the first before the offense put a two spot on the board in its half of the inning. Jackson Oliver led the inning off with a double off the top of the left field wall and Ryan Ihle followed with a sharp single down the left field line to plate Oliver to make it a 1-0 game. After an out, Christian Miller ripped the first pitch he saw into the right-centerfield gap to chase Ihle home.

Auburn Montgomery (26-9) came right back in the second to tie the game at two. John-Mark Cosby led things off with a single before Mac Seibert laced a ball to short that took a wicked hop and found itself in shallow center. Porter struck out Brandon Davis for the second out of the inning, but Deric Boone came away with a clutch two-out single up the middle to make it a 2-1 ballgame.

Porter would then issue back-to-back walk with the second forcing home the tying run. The righty got out of the inning after a nice play by Blake Edwards on a bunt attempt.

CSU regained the lead in the third with one swing of the bat as Mike McClellan launched a two-run blast over the left field wall to put the Cougars up 4-2. Ihle scored on the play after singling.

After AUM stranded a runner on third in the top of the fourth, the Cougars roared for six runs in their half of the inning to go up 10-2. The first four CSU hitters reached base in the inning, including a RBI single by Oliver. Ihle drove home a run on a fielder's choice before back-to-back RBI singles by McClellan and Miller put the Cougars ahead 8-2.

Matt Nettles made it a 9-2 game on a sacrifice fly before Lake Hart capped off the inning's scoring with a sharp double down the left field line that chased home Miller.

The Warhawks got two runs back in the fifth, but things could've been worse. AUM loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and a walk before a catcher's interference allowed a run to cross the plate. However from there, Porter did a nice job to limit the damage. After getting a pop up and allowing a RBI single, Porter got a soft pop fly to second and a grounder to first to escape the frame.

Columbus State finished off the game's scoring in the sixth thanks to a two-out, two-run triple to straight away centerfield from Justin Evans.

Porter improved to 3-0 after his five-inning start on Wednesday. The righty allowed four runs on seven hits while tying a season-high with six strikeouts. Sean Muller, Kyle Peals and Kolton Ingram combined to keep the Warhawks scoreless over the final four innings.

Ihle was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBIs for the Cougars while McClellan was 2-for-4 with two runs and three runs driven in. Oliver (2-for-6), Miller (2-for-4) and Hart (2-for-3) all had multi-hit days.

Seven AUM pitchers threw in the game with Seth Arroyo (1-2) taking the loss. Chance Calloway started the game and threw just 2.1 innings.

Cosby and Seibert were each 3-for-4.

Columbus State will now gear up for a Peach Belt Conference series this weekend against Georgia Southwestern. The series is slated to begin on Friday at 5 p.m. in Americus, Ga.