Fayette, Mo. – Tonight the Columbia College baseball team was back in action when they traveled to Fayette, Missouri, to take on the 24^th ranked Central Methodist (Mo.) University Eagles in a nonconference matchup. The Cougars were defeated by the Eagles by a final score of 9-6 and fell to 25-11 on the season.

Columbia College put together a 10 hit outing in the loss. They got off to a great start in the game as Jordan Wright singled in the first at-bat of the contest and then came around to score to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. The Eagles responded quickly and rallied for four runs of their own in the bottom of the first, two runs in the bottom of the second, and one run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 7-1 lead into the sixth. The Cougars bounced back and picked up two runs of their own in the top of the sixth but another two run rally from Central Methodist in the bottom half of the inning gave the Eagles a 9-3 lead. Columbia College did their best to get back into the game and were able to rally for three runs in the top of the ninth but that was as close as they would get as the Eagles picked up the final outs to hand the Cougars their second straight loss.

Mark Haire (2-1) got the start in this one as he allowed three hits and three earned runs while striking out one in 1.0 inning. Jacob Ford (0-0), Lane Threlkeld (0-0), Jacob Venneman (0-0), Collin Bernskoetter (0-0), and Tanner Allen (0-0) came in to relieve Haire as the five combined to allow eight hits and five earned runs while striking out seven batters in the final seven innings of the game. Offensively, the Cougars were led by Reed Sprinkle who went 1-5 with two RBI's, Andrew Warner who went 1-4 with an RBI, Bradley Prebay who went 1-3 with an RBI, and Ward Mershon who went 3-3 with two runs scored.

The baseball team is back in action on Thursday, April 12^th when they play host to the Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) University Trojans in an AMC doubleheader. The first game is set to start at 5 p.m. with the second to follow at Atkins Park.