Columbia, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College baseball team was back in action for their final two games of the last regular season series against Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University. The Cougars, who defeated the Lions on Thursday by a final score of 7-3, were able to complete the three game series sweep as they won the first game of the doubleheader by a final score of 4-3 and the second game by a final score of 7-4. With the series sweep, Columbia College has clinched a share of the AMC regular season title and will be the second overall seed in the AMC tournament next week in Henderson, Tennessee.
In their first game against the Lions, the Cougars had a tough time getting anything going offensively through the first few innings of play. The Lions took advantage of the Cougars miscues at the plate and were able to score one run in the third inning and two runs in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth. Despite being down, Columbia College battled back and were able to score one run in the bottom of the fourth and two runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at three. Neither side was able to get anything going over the next few innings but a solo walk off homerun from
Tanner Allen proved to be the difference as it propelled the Cougars to their fifth straight win.
Zach Maskill (6-4) was the starting pitcher in the game for Columbia as he struck out six batters while allowing just six hits and two earned runs in 6.0 innings of work.
Craig Smith (4-3) came in to relieve Maskill in the seventh inning and picked up his fourth win of the season after striking out three batters in three hitless innings on the mound. Offensively, Columbia College was led by
Tanner Allen who went 2-4 with an RBI and
Kenny Piper who went 2-3 with an RBI.
Between the first and second game, the Cougars honored
Zach Maskill as the lone senior on senior day. Maskill, a Kansas City, Missouri, native spent the first three years of his career at Lincoln (Mo.) University in Jefferson City before joining Columbia College for their first season in 35 years. Zach currently sits at 6-4 in 13 appearances for the Cougars and holds a 2.58 ERA on the season.
In their second game against the Lions, Columbia College was able to carry over their momentum from the first game and scored six runs over the first two innings to take a 6-0 lead into the third. The Lions battled back into the contest and were able to cut the Cougars lead in half when they scored three runs in the fifth, but a solo homerun from
Andrew Warner in the bottom of the sixth put the Cougars up 7-3 heading into the seventh. Freed-Hardeman did their best to get back into the game in the final inning and were able to score one run to cut Columbia's lead to 7-4 but that was as close as they would get as the Cougars were able to close them out and claim their spot as AMC regular season co-champions.
Cody Ebert (10-0) was the starting pitcher in this game as struck out four batters while allowing just four hits and two earned runs in 4.1 innings on the mound.
Alex Anderson (0-0) came into relieve Ebert in the fifth inning as he struck out three batters while allowing just one hit and one earned run. Following Anderson,
Craig Smith (4-3) came in to pitch the seventh inning and struck out one batter as he picked up his seventh save of the season. In addition,
Andrew Warner went 3-4 with three RBI's and
Justin Randle went 1-3 with three RBI's to lead the Cougars at the plate.
This marks the end of the regular season for the Columbia College baseball team. The Cougars will travel to Henderson, Tennessee, on Wednesday, May 3
rd to compete in the double eliminations AMC Tournament.
