COLUMBUS, GA. – Senior
Jackson Chizek provided his second walk-off hit of the week in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader with Flagler College, giving the Cougars their first Peach Belt Conference win of the year.
Flagler claimed victory in the first game of the day with a 12-7 win before Columbus State responded with a 6-5 triumph to avoid the series sweep at Burger King Stadium.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME ONE)
- Both teams scored early and often in the first game of the day as Flagler built a 6-4 lead through six innings of play.
- Sophomore Luke Miller drew a bases-loaded walk in the first to score Columbus State's opening run, while junior Cole Eison belted his first home run of the year, a solo shot to right center, in the fourth inning to keep CSU close.
- Flagler extended its lead to a 10-4 advantage with a four-run eighth inning of play.
- Senior Bryce Knox tallied his first home run of the season in the bottom of the eighth to cut the deficit to five runs.
- The Saints added two more runs in the ninth for a 12-5 lead.
- In the home half of the ninth, junior Corey Berry hit a two-out triple to right and scored on an RBI triple for fellow junior Jax Yoxtheimer in the following at-bat. Eison brought in a run with an RBI single to center before the CSU rally ended.
HOW IT HAPPENED (GAME TWO)
- Flagler again jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the first inning of play.
- The Cougars evened things at 2-2 in the fifth with a two-run home run by Miller, his second of the season, and took a 3-2 lead in the sixth on Chizek's first home run of the season.
- In the seventh, the Saints rallied for three runs on five hits to retake the lead by a 5-3 score.
- Columbus State evened the score once again in the eighth inning as an RBI single up the middle by Berry brought Chizek and Knox across the plate.
- Junior right-hander Dexter Benoit entered the game out of the bullpen for Columbus State to start the ninth inning and sat the Saints down to keep the score even at 5-5.
- The ninth inning saw CSU record consecutive one-out singles from senior Cayden Evans and Knox before Chizek brought home the game-winning run with an RBI single to center.
NOTES
- Yoxtheimer collected four hits, including a double and a triple, to go along with two runs scored, an RBI, and a stolen base on the day.
- Chizek had four hits of his own, including a three-hit performance in the finale, while registering a home run, two runs scored, two RBI, and a stolen base.
- Berry also had four hits across the two games with a triple, a run scored, and two RBI.
- Eison, Knox, and Miller each had three hits on the day with one home run apiece and a combined total of seven RBI
- Columbus State used a total of eight pitchers in game two, tallying seven strikeouts, as Benoit picked up his first win of 2026 after a perfect ninth inning of work.
- Senior Trenton Burnett, redshirt-juniors Bryce Sanders and Nathan Webb, junior Danny Hershberger, and freshman Logan Shrewsbury each pitched a scoreless inning of relief in game two's victory.
UP NEXT
Columbus State continues Peach Belt play next weekend when the team hosts Claflin University for a three-game series at Burger King Stadium. Friday's series opener at Ragsdale Field is scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. first pitch.
