St. Louis, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College baseball team was back on the diamond when they took on the Missouri Baptist University Spartans in the final game of the three game series. The Cougars, who were swept in yesterday's doubleheader, were able to bounce back today and defeat the Spartans by a final score of 5-2 to improve to 19-8 on the season and 6-6 in conference play.
Columbia College was able to put together nine hits in the 5-2 win. The Cougars got on the board first in this one as they were able to score one run in the top of the first and two runs in the top of the third to breakout to an early 3-0 lead. The Spartans had a tough time getting anything going through the first few innings of the game but were able to rally for two runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut Columbia's lead to 3-2 heading into the sixth. Missouri Baptist did their best to get back into the game in the final innings but a two run homerun from Andrew Warner in the top of the seventh solidified the Cougars 19th win of the season.
Dakota Stone (3-1) was the starter in this one as he allowed eight hits and two earned runs while racking up five strikeouts in his third complete game of the season. Offensively, Andrew Warner led the way for Columbia as he went 2-4 with two runs scored and three RBI's. In addition to Warner, Justin Randle went 2-4 with an RBI and Tanner Allen went 2-4 with an RBI to round out the top performers for the Cougars.
The baseball team is back in action on Friday, March 30th when they host the Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) University Hornets in an AMC matchup. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Atkins Park.
