Cleveland State hosted Volunteer State in a 3 game series this past weekend. The Cougars won the series, sweeping Volunteer State in 3 games.
Cleveland State defeated Volunteer State by a score of 5-0 in game one. Hooper Mills was on the mound, pitching a 7-inning complete game shutout, allowing 3 walks while striking out 4. Mills got the win in a complete game effort, improving his record to 6-2 on the season. The Cougars cruised to a 5-0 victory behind RBI's by Brandon Mason, Hunter Oliver, and Joey Roberson. Logan Peterson had 2 RBI's on the day. Cleveland State was able to draw 7 walks while only striking out 6 times in the game one victory.
Game two saw another Cougar victory as Cleveland State defeated the Pioneers by a score of 10-0. Ryan Lloyd was on the mound for the Cougars, pitching 5 innings allowing 3 walks while striking out 5. The win improves Lloyd's record to 2-4 on the season. The Cougars started game two off fast with a 4-run first inning. Hunter Oliver smashed 3-run home run while Trey Vanderpool reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Joey Roberson. The second inning saw an RBI double from Rhett Baldwin and an RBI single from Cameron Payne, pushing the score to 6-0 over the Pioneers. The 3rd inning saw two more Cougar runs, as Logan Peterson and Brandon Mason both scored. Hunter Oliver hit another home run in the 5th inning, this time a 2 run blast, ending the game in a 10-0 mercy ruling in favor of Cleveland State.
The final game of the series was a close game between the Cougars and Pioneers. Ryan Inches was on the mound for the Cougars in game three, lasting 2 innings, allowing 4 earned runs, 2 walks while striking out 1. Collin Grove came in for relief and pitched 5.1 innings, allowing 0 earned runs while striking out 7. Greg Tye came in the game and closed it out, striking out 2 batters while receiving the win in the walk-off victory.
After 8 innings of back and forth baseball, the Cougars found themselves tied with the Pioneers, 8-8 in the bottom of the 9th inning. Hooper Mills steps up to the plate, pinch-hitting for Cameron Hankins, and reaches first on an error by the Vol State first baseman. Caleb Collins then enters the game to pinch run for Hooper Mills. Noah Hill flies out to center field while Brandon Mason follows up with a single, moving Collins to third base. The Pioneers intentionally walk Hunter Oliver, loading the bases with one out on the board. Logan Peterson then steps up to plate and absolutely crushes a massive walk-off grand slam to win the game for the Cougars.
The series sweep moves Cleveland State's record to 27-14 while bring their conference record back up to .500 at 9-9.
Next up, the Cougars will travel to Bryan College to take on their JV squad in a doubleheader on Monday, April 9th starting at 4:00 PM.