On Monday April 10 Cleveland State Baseball split a doubleheader vs conference rival Columbia State winning game one 7-6 while losing game two 3-2. The Cougars are 21-14 overall with a conference record of 9-7.
Game One Recap
Columbia jumped off to a four run lead scoring four unearned runs in the first inning only to see Cleveland State come back in their half of the first to score three. Singles by Rhett Hammontree, Jaylen Jones and AJ Swader started the rally as both Hammontree and Jones scored on wild pitches while Swader was chased home by a double off the bat of Colby Taylor.
In the fourth the Cougars took the lead 5-4 as Bryce Burkey started the inning with a walk followed by a Hammontree single who were both sacrificed by Jones with Burkey scoring on a sacrifice fly from Swader while Hammontree scored on a single by Riley Orr.
The Chargers tied the score in the fifth but the Cougars quickly took the lead back in their half of the fifth as Burkey hit a sacrifice fly to drive home Bryson Trammell who had walked on worked his way to third base on two Columbia errors.
Columbia came back in the sixth scoring one run knotting the score at six setting up game winning heroics by Jacob Robinson in the bottom of the seventh. Robinson leading off the seventh blasted a walk off homerun giving Cougar pitcher Carson Mitchell his first win of the season who pitched 1.1 inning in relief of starter Cooper Casteel. Casteel on the game went 5.2 innings striking out eight in yielding just two earned runs.
The Cougars had nine hits led by Hammontree and Taylor who had three and two hits respectively. Jones. Swader, Orr and Robinson rounded out the attack with one hit each.
Game Two Recap
Game two featured pitching as the Cougars had four hits while Columbia State had three hits. Cleveland State pitcher Carter Fink twirled 6.2 innings and struck out six as the Cougars would lose the game 3-2 when Columbia scored three in the seventh.
Jones started the Cougar scoring in the first with a one out solo homerun and was part of another single Cleveland State run walking in the fourth and coming home to score following singles from Burkey and Hammontree giving the Cougars a 2-0 lead that held until the seventh.
The four hits by the Cougars included one each from Hammontree, Jones, Swader and Burkey. In the bottom of the seventh Cleveland State left Reggie Cooper at third base as he had walked and moved up two bases on a throwing error.
What's Next
With nine conference game remaining in the regular season, Cleveland State is set to hit the road for a three game series vs Walters State Friday April 14 and Saturday April 15.
