Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College baseball team was back in action this week when they played host to the Missouri Baptist University Spartans for a three game AMC series. The Cougars, who were on a 12 winning streak prior to the series, went 1-2 against the Spartans over the past two days including a 10-4 victory this afternoon at Atkins Park. Following the series, the Cougars record is now 21-9 on the season and 11-2 in conference play.

In the first game of the series on Thursday night, the Cougars were defeated by the Spartans by a final score of 15-11. Missouri Baptist got off to a quick start in the game and were able to score six runs over the first two innings to take an early lead in the ball game. However, the Cougars battled back in the bottom half of the second and rallied for seven runs, including a grand slam from Ethan Howser, to take a 7-6 lead through two innings of play. The Spartans struggled to get anything going in the third inning but were able to score two runs in the top half of the fourth to regain the lead. The Cougars responded quickly to the Spartans runs and scored four runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth but that was as close as Columbia would get as Missouri Baptist scored seven runs in the final three innings and snapped the Cougars winning streak. Jeremy Rettig was the starting pitcher for Columbia College allowing eight hits and eight earned runs in three innings of work. Offensively, Columbia College was led by Ethan Howser who went 1-5 with four RBI's and Alex Anderson who went 1-4 with three RBI's.

In the Cougars second game of the doubleheader on Thursday, they were able to jump out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Ethan Howser led off the frame with a five pitch walk before coming around to score on an Andrew Warner RBI single. Both teams exchanged runs over the next few innings of play but ultimately a run in the bottom of the seventh would give the Cougars a 3-2 lead through seven innings of play. The Columbia College lead stood until the top of the ninth inning when the Spartans were able to rally for three runs in the frame to take a late lead in the game and then closed out the Cougars in the bottom half of the inning to solidify a 5-3 victory. Zach Maskill was on the mound for Columbia College in this game as the senior pitcher allowed just 11 hits and three earned runs while striking out 10 batters in 8.1 innings of work. In addition, Kenny Piper went 1-3 with an RBI and Ethan Howser went 1-4 with two runs scored to lead the Cougars offensively

The team took a break after the second game on Thursday and were back on the field this morning for an 11 a.m. start against the Spartans. After a scoreless first inning, Missouri Baptist's offense came alive in the second as they rallied for three runs in the top of the frame and then added another run in the top of the third to take an early 4-0 lead in the ballgame. However, that was all the offense they would get as the Cougars were able to shut them down for the rest of the game. Columbia College scored two runs in the third, two runs in the fourth, two runs in the sixth, one run in the seventh and three runs in the eighth while collecting 19 hits to pick up their 11^th conference win of the season. Cody Ebert returned to the mound after his no hitter last week against Morthland College improving to 6-0 on the season after allowing just six hits and four earned runs in nine innings of work. Offensively, Columbia College was led by Andrew Warner who increased his hitting streak to 21 straight games after going 3-4 with two RBI's.

The Cougars are back in action on Wednesday, March 29^th when they host Missouri Valley College in a nonconference matchup. Columbia will play just one game against the Vikings with first pitch set for 2 p.m. at Atkins Park.