Cougars fall 10-7 to Raiders
Cleveland State Cougars (24-23) 2023 season came to a close on Sunday falling to the Roane State Raiders 10-7 in the playing game of the TCCAA Baseball Tournament.
The Raiders capitalized on five Cougar errors and pounded out 10 hits to erase an early three run deficit on the way to a 10-7 win.
Cougar starter Copper Casteel suffered the loss tossing five innings allowing five hits, seven runs, four earned while fanning eight Raiders.
The Cougars bullpen allowed five runs on five hits over the last four innings striking out eight.
The Cougar offense pounded out 14 hits on the day led by Riley Orr's four hits, Bryce Burkey had three hits and four RBI's and Jaylen Jones chipped in with two hits while scoring two runs.
With the game tied 5-5 the Raiders scored three runs in the sixth inning and add two additional runs in the seventh inning to take a 10-5 lead.
The Cougars answered back in the seventh inning on an AJ Swader sac fly and a Riley Orr two out single scoring Bryce Burkey to close out the scoring.
TCCAA post season awards went to freshman pitcher Copper Casteel who was named to the TCCAA First Team, while sophomore shortstop Rhett Hammontree was named to the second team.