COLUMBUS - The Columbus State University baseball team split their double-header against Georgia Southwestern on Friday, April 7. The Cougars are now 25-11 on the season and 12-9 in PBC play. With the series win, the Hurricanes are 21-13 and 14-7 inside the Peach Belt Conference.

GAME 1: W 8-3
In a game where the Cougars scored in six innings, they got the scoring started with a sac-fly to center field off of the bat of Steven Minter in the first inning. The Hurricanes struck back in the top of the second when they scored on a wild pitch. Matthew McDade stepped to the plate in the bottom half of the second and clobbered his eighth home run of the season. McDade is now tied for first on the Cougar squad with 45 RBI's on the season. GSW would then tie the game up in the fourth inning off a sac-fly to center.

In the home half of the fourth inning, Isaac Bouton would knock a two-out, two RBI single up the middle to score Trace Twardoski and Ian King who both reached on singles earlier in the inning. This would give starter, Colton Joyner, all the run support he needed. Joyner fired seven innings of two run ball while striking out eight Hurricanes. The junior right hander tossed 105 pitches in the game.

CSU would tack runs on in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to put away the Hurricanes all of the which were scored off singles. GSW would score a run in the eighth inning but Leo Giannoni shut down any chances of a comeback in the ninth inning as he tossed a scoreless frame to end the game.

GAME 2: L 5-3
Columbus State would jump out to an early lead in the second when Jackson Chizek roped a double down the left field line to score Cooper Krause from first base. This was Chizek's first hit and RBI in his young Cougar career as he had two hits in the game. Georgia Southwestern responded the next inning when they scored off of a Cougar wild pitch and a single up the middle to take the lead.

In the fourth inning, Win Johns launched an opposite field bomb to tie the game back up. This was Johns's sixth home run of the season and his third in nine games. GSW would take the lead back on a two RBI single with two outs in the fifth inning and then they would tack on some insurance in the top of the eighth to make it a 5-2 ballgame. Win Johns would get his second RBI of the game with a bases loaded, infield single to bring the Cougars within two. 

The Cougars would get two on in the ninth to bring the winning run to the plate but pesky Hurricane pitching would wiggle out of the jam and out of Columbus with a 2-1 series win.

UP NEXT:
Columbus State is back in action on Friday, April 14 when the Cougars welcome in the Augusta Jaguars for their final home PBC series of the season. The two teams will square of a 6 p.m. at Ragsdale Field.