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AMERICUS, Ga. – In the opening game of the weekend series, the 10^th-ranked Columbus State University baseball team picked up a 9-5 win at Georgia Southwestern on Friday. The Peach Belt Conference game was played in Americus.
 
Columbus State (27-6, 11-4 PBC) remains in second place in the PBC standings, two games back in the loss column behind Georgia College.
 
"It's always good to get the opening game of the series," head coach Greg Appleton said. "We put a bunch of runs on the board early and it allowed Kolton (Ingram) to settle in on the mound."
 
The Cougars got out the big bats in the opening inning on Friday night, getting a pair of solo home runs in the first.
 
Mason McClellan launched a two-out solo home run to put the Cougars on the board and Frank Wager followed with a long ball of his own. It was the seventh of the year for McClellan and Wager's team-leading 10^th.
 
Georgia Southwestern (6-28, 2-17) picked up an unearned run in the bottom half of the first, but the Cougars were rolling again in the third.
 
Wager was at it again in the third driving a ball into right past the diving outfielder, resulting in a triple that brought McClellan to the plate. Robert Brooks backed it up with a double down the left field line to make it 4-1 one, and the Cougar catcher came around to score on Grant Berry's RBI single.
 
Chase Brown then capped off the four-run inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Berry.
 
CSU kept the offense coming in the fifth, tacking three more runs on the board. Justin Evans pulled a single into left to score Austin Pharr and Garrett Kirkwood picked up a RBI groundout that Drew Webb scored on. McClellan made it seven unanswered runs for the Cougars with another RBI single.
 
The Canes picked up four runs in the bottom of the eighth, but the Cougar bullpen would put the game away.
 
Ingram (8-1) picked up his league-leading eighth win of the season, allowing four earned runs in 7.1 innings. Jalen Latta got the final two outs of the eighth and Evans struck out the side in the ninth.
 
Wager was 4-for-5 at the plate, coming up just a double shy of the cycle to lead the 17-hit attack. McClellan and Brooks had three hits apiece.
 
Columbus State and Georgia Southwestern will wrap up the three-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.