YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. - The Columbus State University baseball team drops the first game of their three game conference series against Young Harris by a score of 8-9 on Friday, March 31. With the loss, CSU drops to 24-7 on the season and 11-5 in PBC play. YHC improves to 23-10 and 13-6 in the Peach Belt Conference.

An exciting back-and-fourth game started off with a bang for the Cougars as the first batter of the game, Isaac Bouton, set the tone for CSU as he launched his seventh home run of the season. Matthew McDade came up later in the inning and stung a ball into the right center gap to score another. Young Harris immediately responded in the bottom half as they scored three runs on two home runs to take the lead 3-2.

The Mountain Lions would score one in the second inning and another in the fourth. Win Johns would start the Cougar comeback in the top half of the sixth with a two-out single through the left side to score Colby Brabston. Columbus State would score another in the seventh when Matthew McDade walked. 

With a 4-6 score going into the eighth inning, Connor Kirley and Isaiah Hernandez would both knock home runs off of two-out back breaking hits to tied the game up at six a piece. YHC would hit their third home run of the game in the bottom of the eighth to take another lead on the Cougars. The ninth inning would be a wild one as Win Johns tied the ballgame up with a no-doubt shot over the left field wall to tie the game up. The Cougars would take the lead with two outs as Isaac Bouton knocked home Connor Kirley on an rbi-single to take the lead.

The bottom of the ninth would be fatal for CSU as free passes and errors would bring the winning run to the plate with bases loaded. Young Harris would score off a hit-by-pitch to end a thriller.

 UP NEXT:
Columbus State will get off the deck and look to even up the series on Saturday, April 1 when they take on Young Harris in game two of their three game series. First pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.