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ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - The Columbus State University baseball team tallied a split in two games at the Peach Belt Conference Tournament on Saturday. The games were played at Drysdale Field. 

Columbus State (31-20) fell 9-7 in the opening game against Francis Marion, but bounced back with a 4-0 shutout over Flagler in the finale. The Cougars finished pool play at 1-2.

"Well we certainly had higher hopes coming into the tournament," said head coach Greg Appleton. "But I'm proud of the effort our guys gave in that second game, as we continued to fight until the very end."

Game One

The Cougars struggled to get the bats hot in the early going but picked things up quickly entering the fourth inning. Three straight batters reached the base paths to start which loaded the bases with no outs. Kendall Ford promptly nailed a single through the left side plating two runs and giving CSU their first lead of the game at 2-1. 

The bats then strung together timely hits in the sixth to break the game open. Four singles and a double would see four runs cross home plate for CSU. Garrett Kirkwood and Drew Webb each picked up RBI singles while Robert Brooks sliced a double down the left field line to score two more. 

Jalen Latta pitched well for the Cougars from the start but ran into a bit of trouble in the sixth when two runs scored for the Patriots to cut the Cougar lead down to three. Latta would finish his outing going 5.1 innings giving up two earned runs with two strikeouts. 

Thomas Howell came in relief for CSU and worked himself out of two jams, going 1.2 innings with two strikeouts while not letting any runs come across. 

Another RBI single from Webb in the eighth inning would give Columbus State an insurance run before the Cougars ran into all sorts of problems in the bottom half of the frame. 

FMU would bat around their lineup, and explode for six runs to storm into the lead putting the tally at 9-7. 

Ford, Brooks and Webb all finished with two RBIs in the opener. 

Game Two

The second game of the doubleheader was all about the pitching performance of Sam Sowerbrower. The senior saved his best for last after delivering his first ever complete game shutout as a Cougar. 

Sowerbrower (5-2) scattered six hits with two walks while striking out seven in the win. He went the distance throwing 127 pitches on the night. 

The Cougars scored in just two innings but it was more than enough with the strong performance on the mound. 

Robert Brooks got the Cougar offense across home plate in the opening inning and picked up his second RBI later in the sixth on a single up the middle. 

CSU would add two more runs in the sixth inning off of back-to-back RBI singles from Chase Brown and Webb. 

Ford led the way in the hit department going 2-for-4 scoring two of the four Cougar runs.