Henderson, Tenn. – This afternoon the Columbia College baseball team was back in action when they traveled to Henderson, Tennessee, to take part in the AMC Baseball Championships at Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University. The Cougars, who earned the second seed in the tournament after going 22-4 in conference play, were defeated by the Lindenwood University-Belleville (Ill.) Lynx by a final score of 16-13. With the loss, the Cougars fall to 34-16 on the season.
The Cougars got off to a great start in the ballgame as they were able to score two runs in the top of the second inning to take an early 2-0 lead in the contest. The Lynx responded quickly to the run from Columbia and were able to cut the Cougars lead in half when they scored one run in the bottom of the third and found themselves down 2-1 to start the fourth. Neither side was able to get anything going in the fourth, but a three run rally from Columbia College gave them a 5-1 lead heading into the sixth.
The Lynx, who struggled offensively through the first five innings of the game, bats came alive in the bottom of the sixth. They were able to rally for 11 runs in the inning and then added one run in the bottom of the seventh to take a 13-5 lead into the eighth. The Cougars responded to the runs by the Lynx with three runs in the top of the eighth but Lindenwood-Belleville erased Columbia's rally with a three run rally of their own in the bottom half of the frame to take a 16-8 lead into the top of the ninth. The Cougars did everything they could to get back into the game in their final at-bats and were able to score five runs in the inning but fell just short as the Lynx closed them out down the stretch to advance in the winners bracket.
Zach Maskill (6-4) was the starting pitcher for Columbia as he picked up five strikeouts while allowing four hits and four earned runs in 5.1 innings of work.
J.W. McGraw (3-3),
Craig Smith (4-3),
Alex Anderson (0-0), and
Collin Bernskoetter (1-0) were in relief of Maskill as the four combined for one strikeout while allowing seven hits and 12 earned runs in 2.2 innings on the mound. Offensively, Columbia was led by
Justin Randle who went 3-6 with four RBI's and
Kenny Piper who went 4-6 with four RBI's.
The Cougars will continue play in the double elimination AMC Baseball Championships tomorrow afternoon at Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University when they take on either Central Baptist (Ark.) College or Lyon (Ark.) College. The game is set to start at 1 p.m.
