ORANGEBURG, Sc. - The Columbus State University baseball team beat Claflin in both ends of a double-header 13-3 and 19-1 on Saturday, March 4. With the wins on Saturday, CSU is now 13-3 on the season and 7-1 PBC. Claflin falls to 0-12, 0-8 in conference play.

GAME 1:
It took the Cougars a couple innings to get the bats going but after the third inning, the bats were hot. CSU got some power from Connor Kirley who has just two homeruns in his Columbus State career as he launched his third in a Cougar uniform in the third inning. Connor had a game of a lifetime as he hit a double in the fourth, a single in the sixth, and he legged out a triple in the seventh inning to complete one of the rarest feats in all of baseball, the cycle. He ended up with four hits and five RBI's in the game.

Matthew McDade and Isaac Bouton both had three hits each and McDade hit a bomb of his own in the third inning. McDade finished with four RBI's.

Noah Windhorst earned his fourth win of the season which is tied for first in the Peach Belt Conference. Windhorst punched out seven batters in his outing which he went 6.1 innings before giving way to Brock Elliot. Elliot would make easy work of Claflin as he struck out both batters he saw to complete the run-rule.


GAME 2:
Just like the first game, in the third inning the Cougars exploded for a crooked number. Seth Nelson blasted a double off the center field wall to get the Cougars going. The next batter, Win Johns, would single to score Nelson. Isaac Bouton then hit his fourth homerun of the season in the fourth inning. 

The sixth inning would be the knock-out punch for CSU. They strung together eight hits and 11 runs in the inning, highlighted by a Derek Wylie homer to start the inning and a Win Johns three-run no-doubt shot to finish the scoring in the inning.

Colton Joyner was fantastic again today and he tied his teammate Noah Windhorst for four wins and both are now tied for first in the PBC in that category. Joyner tossed five strong innings on one run ball while striking out seven Claflin Panthers. Zack Brockman took over in the sixth inning and struck out two while allowing no runs and then Evan Rightnowar finished off the Panthers in the seventh to complete the run-rule. 

NOTES:
- Isaac Bouton had 7 total RBI's on the day (6 in game 2) and 6 hits on the day
- Matthew McDade had 6 RBI's on the day
- Seth Nelson and Trace Twardoski both had 3 hits in game 2
- Derek Wylie and Matthew McDade are tied for first with each other and in the PBC with 6 HR's
- Win Johns didn't make an out today and had 4 RBI's
- Connor Kirley had 4 hits today and had 6 runs today
- Noah Windhorst had a season-high 7 strikeouts

UP NEXT
Columbus State will be back in action tomorrow, March 5, as they look to sweep Claflin for the second year in a row. First pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. in Orangeburg, SC.