Joplin, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College baseball team was back in action when they traveled to Joplin, Missouri, to compete in the 2018 Joplin Invitational. The Cougars played one game tonight against the MidAmerican Nazarene (Kan.) University Pioneers and improved to 6-1 on the season after winning by a score of 8-6.
MidAmerica Nazarene came out in the first inning of the game and were able to get off to a quick start as they scored one run in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. They were able to add another run in the top of the fourth and held a 2-0 advantage over the Cougars heading into the bottom half of the inning. Columbia College had a tough time getting anything going offensively in the first few innings of the game but were able to pick it up as the game progressed and rallied for seven runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 7-2 lead in the contest. The Cougars were able to add an eighth run in the bottom of the fifth inning and held off the Pioneers down the stretch to clinch their sixth win of the season.
Dakota Stone (1-0) got the start in this one as he allowed five hits and two earned runs while striking out nine batters in 4.0 innings of work. Derek Sallee (0-0) and Craig Smith (1-0) pitched the final three innings of the game as they allowed a combined six hits and accumulated two strikeouts. Offensively, Columbia College was led by Andrew Warner who went 2-3 with a run scored and Reed Sprinkle who went 1-2 with two RBI's.
The Cougars are back in action tomorrow, February 17th when they continue play in the 2018 Joplin Invitational. Columbia will play two games on the day including a 3:30 p.m. start against Benedictine (Kan.) College and a 6 p.m. start against Viterbo (Wis.) University.
