Cleveland State Baseball started off their conference play with a doubleheader sweep of Roane State on Saturday.
The Cougars won game one by a final score of 4-3. Hooper Mills was the starter in this one, going a strong 7 innings, allowing 3 earned runs while striking out 10. This puts Mills record at 3-0 on the season. At the plate, the Cougars were able to score 4 runs off of 10 hits. Noah Hill had an RBI double while Noah Peterson, Logan Peterson, and Trey Martin each collected an RBI of their own. With the score tied, 3-3, in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Cougars had little time to muster out the win. They did just that. After loading the bases, Noah Peterson steps up to the plate and gets hit by a pitch, thus walking off the game with a 4-3 final score.
Game two of this doubleheader was another Cougar victory, with a final score of 3-2. The starting pitcher for Cleveland State in this one was Collin Grove, who pitched 7.2 innings, allowing only 2 earned runs while striking out 7. Ultimately, it was Greg Tye who got the win, closing out the game in the bottom of the 7th inning. This matchup was deadlocked at 0-0 and had to enter extra innings to be decided. Roane State put up two runs in the top of the 8th inning, again putting the Cougars in a tough spot. Brandon Mason steps up to the plate in the bottom of the 8th, and singles. Hunter Oliver then steps up to plate and he singles, moving Mason to second base. With two on and no outs, Logan Peterson steps up to bat and crushes a 3-run walk-off home run to steal another victory from Roane State.
Head Coach Mike Policastro commented, "We're happy that we were able to get the sweep. Mills and Grove threw really well today, keeping us in both games. Offensively we were able to put a couple of good at bats together but we'll look to improve on our offense as we take on Roane State again on Sunday."
Today's two thrilling wins puts the Cougars record at 10-5 (2-0). This doubleheader opened up conference play for Cleveland State and they're off to a hot start after today's sweep. Up next, the Cougars will take on Roane State yet again at home on Sunday, March 4th at 1:00 PM.