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By: Richard Navratil

COLUMBUS – The 13th-ranked Columbus State baseball team took 7-3 and 10-3 victories over Saginaw Valley State on Saturday afternoon. The doubleheader was played at the new Burger King Stadium at Ragsdale Field.
 
With the pair of victories at home, the Cougars improve to 14-4 on the year and have won four of the last five. Saginaw Valley State drops to an even 3-3 with the losses.
 
At the dish, Blake Edwards led the charge. In game one, the Zebulon, Ga. native went 3-for-4 with a run scored. In the game number two, Edwards had a perfect 4-for-4 performance at the plate with a home run and three RBIs.
 
Christian Miller supplied five RBIs in game one going 1-for-2 with a three-run home run and two sacrifice flies to round out the offensive efforts.
 
The Cougars return to the Burger King Stadium tomorrow afternoon to pick up where they left off with another doubleheader against the Cardinals. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Game One
 
SVSU got on the board in the top of the second frame. Cougar starter Caleb Kutsche got first two batters out with a groundout back to the mound and a strikeout, but Brendan Harrison unloaded with two away clearing the left field wall to give Saginaw Valley the 1-0 lead.
 
In the fourth, it was Columbus State that came knocking with three runs. Oliver reached on an error and Mike McClellan executed a textbook hit & run to put runners on the corners. Miller then snuck his fifth homer of the year just inside the right field foul pole to put the Cougars in front.
 
SVSU put a run on the board in the fifth to make in a one-run game, but the Cougars fired back with another three-spot in the bottom half to take control.
 
Hunter Bowling led off the fifth with an opposite-field knock before CSU played small ball. Tyler Fichter and Edwards each reached on bunts to load the bases. Jackson Oliver worked a walk to bring home the first run and a wild pitch brought a second across the plate. Miller wrapped up the scoring later in the inning with his first of two sacrifice flies.
 
Kutsche kept the Cardinals at bay the rest of the way and the Cougars added an insurance run in the seventh.
 
The junior went seven innings to earn his second win of the season. Kutsche allowed three runs on eight hits and struck out seven. Freshman Jarrod Little allowed just one hit in two scoreless innings to close out the victory.
 
Game Two
 
The Cougar offense kept rolling in the day's second game, putting up four runs in the first two innings.
 
Chris Daniel knocked in the first run with a sacrifice fly that scored Oliver, and Ryan Ihle drove home two with a double. Oliver knocked home a run of his own in the second, sending a triple to centerfield to bring in Edwards.
 
In the fourth, one big swing put a three-spot on the board for the Cougars. With one away, Edwards laced one over the left-centerfield wall for his second homer of the season.
 
SVSU got on the board with two in the fifth, but CSU did one better in the bottom half. Ihle picked up another run-scoring double to start the scoring and Fichter drove him home with a single to put the Cougars up 10-2.
 
Albert Harless (3-0) stayed perfect on the season allowing three runs over six innings of work. Chaz Wilson tossed a scoreless seventh to end the CSU win.