Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College baseball team was back in action when they played host to the Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) University Hornets for the first game of a three game series. The Cougars were able to put together a nine hit outing as they defeated the Hornets by a final score of 5-4 to improve to 22-9 on the season and 12-2 in conference play. With the win this afternoon, Columbia College head coach Darren Munns picked up his 400^th career win as a head coach.

The Hornets came out in the first inning and were able to jump on the scoreboard early as they hit a two run homerun in the top of the frame to take an early 2-0 lead in ballgame. However, the Cougars were able to bounce back quickly and started the game with back-to-back base hits from Ethan Howser and Blade McKee before Andrew Warner stepped up to the plate and hit a three run homerun to give Columbia a 3-2 lead. The 3-2 advantage stood for the Cougars for the next few innings until they were able to add two runs in the bottom of the fourth innings thanks to a solo homerun from Reed Sprinkle and an RBI single from Ethan Howser to give the Cougars a 5-2 lead through four innings of play. The Hornets did their best to get back into the game and were able to score two runs in the top of the eighth to cut Columbia's lead to 5-4 but that was as close as they would get as the Cougars were able to close them out in the bottom of the ninth to solidify their 12^th conference win of the season.

Zach Maskill was on the mound this afternoon for Columbia College improving his overall record to 4-3 on the season after going 7.1 innings allowing just six hits and four earned runs. Craig Smith picked up the four out save for Columbia after striking out two batters and allowing just two hits in 1.1 innings of work. Offensively, the Cougars were led by Andrew Warner who was able to extend his hitting streak to 22 straight games after going 1-4 with three RBI's.

Columbia College is back in action tomorrow, April 1^st when they travel to St. Louis, Missouri, to take on Harris-Stowe State University in the final two games of the three game series. The first game of the doubleheader is set for 12 p.m. with the second game to follow.