COLUMBUS - The Columbus State University baseball team broke their four-game conference losing streak splitting a pair against Georgia Southwestern on Saturday. The Cougars steamrolled their way to a 12-0 shutout in the opening game before dropping the second one 5-4. 

"We got off to the perfect start picking up a shutout and watching our offense put up 12 runs," said head coach Greg Appleton. "But things reverted back at times in the second game and unfortunately we couldn't quite put them away after we took the late lead."

Columbus State (22-13, 9-9 PBC) will next travel to Montevallo on Wednesday, April 10. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

Game One

The opening game was all about the long ball on the offensive side for the Cougars as they mashed four home runs in the rout. 

CSU busted the game open in the first inning thanks to a seven-run explosion for the bat cats. The Cougars would load the bases with only one-out when Kendall Ford smacked a single into center scoring the opening run. 

After a fielding error, two more runs would score with Matthew McDade at the plate making it 3-0. One batter later it was Chase Brown bringing in two as the senior singled into right giving the Cougars a five-spot in the first with only one out. 

Drew Webb then put the finishing touches on the seven-run first inning jacking a two-run shot into left center, his fifth dinger of the season. 

The Cougars would tack on two more the following inning thanks to the bat of Ford who launched his second home run of the season into left field giving CSU the nine-run advantage. 

From there it was all Sam Sowerbrower on the mound. The senior scattered just two hits in the shutout while going eight innings. He set a new career high with 12 strikeouts, painting all portions of the strike-zone. 

Sowerbrower (3-1) retired eight batters in a row to conclude his outing including striking out five of the last six batters he faced.

CSU knocked in two more in the eighth behind a second home run off the bat of Webb. The Columbus-native sent one into left field giving him four RBI's on the afternoon. 

Ford finished 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs and three RBI's in the opening game while Grant Berry racked up three hits himself. 

Game Two

In a low-scoring game through six innings, the Cougars found themselves trailing 2-1 heading to the bottom of the seventh. 

Back-to-back singles by Webb and Garrett Kirkwood put runners on first and second with one out for Berry. 

On an 0-1 pitch, the senior crushed a hard ball into right field that just creeped on top of the wall for a three-run home run putting CSU in front 4-3. Originally ruled a double, the umpires deliberated together on the infield and eventually ruled it a home run, the second one for Berry this season. 

But the Hurricanes would fight back in the final two innings. They picked up a two-out RBI single in the eighth to tie that game at four-apiece before grabbing a bases-loaded walk in the ninth to take the lead. 

Columbus State had one final chance in the bottom of the ninth when Berry legged out a single on the infield with one down. 

But two fly balls into the outfield would send the Cougars to their second consecutive conference series loss, and their fifth loss in the last six Peach Belt Conference games. 

Berry finished the second game going 3-for-5 with his home run and three RBI's.