COLUMBUS - In the rubber match of the series the Columbus State University baseball team came away with the 8-6 win over USC Aiken on Sunday afternoon. The Peach Belt Conference game took place at Burger King Stadium at Ragsdale Field. 

Columbus State (19-8, 8-4 PBC) never trailed jumping out to the 8-4 lead after four innings before hanging out for the win to take the series against the Pacers. 

"You know we knew we were going to have to go to our bullpen for a lot of innings this series but they did a fantastic job overall," said head coach Greg Appleton. "Kudos to Delevie he smoked that ball to center and we got timely hits when we needed. A little sweat out at the end there but we'll take the series win."

USC Aiken threatened in the ninth making things interesting with the Cougars looking for the final three outs. 

The dominate reliever Devin Dudal came in for the ninth but ran into trouble after giving up three walks to the first four batters he faced. With the bases-loaded the Pacers brought their leading RBI getter on the team to the plate representing the game tying run. 

A balk would be issued on the first pitch from Dudal scoring a run and moving the runners up to second and third. Dudal next had a pitch get away from him hitting the batter making it bases-loaded again with only one out. But after that the sophomore clamped down in a big way. 

He got a groundout and a fly ball to center for the final two outs, preserving the win for CSU. It improved Columbus State to 8-0 now on the season in games decided by two runs or less. 

The Cougars opened the scoring in the second inning thanks to loading the bases and getting singles from Grant Berry and Garrett Kirkwood to make it 2-0. Kendall Ford would add a sac-fly to give CSU a three-spot in the inning. 

They would grab another three runs in the very next inning with two more RBI singles coming from Kirkwood and Ford. 

As the Pacers cut into the lead making it just a 6-4 game, Columbus State would respond for the third straight inning, plating two more runs in the fourth. Bryce Delevie smacked an RBI-double to deep centerfield and Berry followed with a double of his own to put CSU in front 8-4. 

From there, Sheridan Coy took over for the Cougars on the mound. The senior put four straight zeroes up on the scoreboard, shutting the Pacers out in the fifth through eighth innings of play. Coy (5-0) racked up five strikeouts his his 4.2 innings of relief while Dudal was credited with his eighth save of the season.

Delevie had the hot bat at the plate going 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI. Kirkwood added three more hits with two RBI's while Berry went 2-for-4 with two RBI's and one run. 

Columbus State will hit the road next playing a midweek game against Tuskegee on Wednesday, March 27. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.