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COLUMBUS – In a battle of top-15 teams, the fifth-ranked Columbus State University baseball team lost 4-0 on Friday night to 12^th-ranked Georgia College. The Peach Belt Conference series opener was played at Burger King Stadium at Ragsdale Field.
 
Columbus State (35-9, 17-7 PBC) suffered just its fourth home loss of the season in 21 games.
 
"We ran up against a really good pitcher tonight," head coach Greg Appleton said. "We missed an early opportunity to score, and then he settled in and did a good job of keeping us off balance all night."
 
The Cougars best chance on the night came in the second inning. Robert Brooks nearly homered to open the frame, but the ball sailed just foul of the pole in left. The freshman settled for a leadoff walk and Grant Berry dropped a single into centerfield to put two runners on.
 
Chase Brown worked a one-out walk to load the bases, however a pop out and strikeout ended the inning with the game still scoreless.

Georgia College (35-9, 25-3) broke through one inning later, pairing together a double and a single to take a 1-0 lead in the third. The game held there until the Bobcats put two more up on the board in the sixth to stretch the margin to three.
 
CSU struggled to get anything going at the plate late in the contest, having 13 straight retired from the fifth through ninth innings before Frank Wager singled with two outs in the final inning. The Cougars couldn't make anything of it though, falling victim to their first shutout loss of the season.
 
Ingram (9-3) suffered the loss after giving up just two earned runs in seven innings. Jalen Latta allowed a solo home run in his two innings of work.
 
Garrett Kirkwood went 2-for-4 at the plate, accounting for half of CSU's output on the evening.
 
Columbus State and Georgia College will play game two of the series on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.