Belleville, Ill. – This afternoon the Columbia College baseball team was back in action when they traveled to Belleville, Illinois, to take on the Lindenwood University-Belleville (Ill.) Lynx in the AMC Baseball Games of the Week. The Cougars were able to sweep the doubleheader as they improved to 31-11 on the season and 17-8 in conference play. This is the second straight season the Columbia College baseball team has hit the 30 win mark.
In the first game against the Lynx, Columbia was able to put together 15 hits in a 12-2 victory. They got off to a great start in the game as they scored two runs in the top of the first to take an early 2-0 lead. They continued to put the ball in play and added two runs in the top of the third, one run in the top of the fifth and three runs in the top of the sixth to take an 8-0 lead into the bottom half of the inning. The Lynx answered with a two run rally of their own in the top of the sixth but a four run rally from the Cougars in the top of the seventh solidified their 30th win of the season.
Dakota Stone (6-1) was on the mound for this one as the senior allowed seven hits and two earned runs while striking out seven in his fifth complete game of the season. Andrew Warner led the way offensively as he went 3-4 with a solo homerun and five RBI's. To go along with Warner, Ethan Howser went 2-4 with two RBI's, Blade McKee went 1-4 with an RBI, Josh Mobley went 1-1 with an RBI, and Jacob Litteken went 1-1 with an RBI to round out the top performers for Columbia.
The Cougars carried over their momentum from the first game into the second game as they put together seven hits in the 4-2 win. Neither side was able to get anything going through the first four innings of play but a sacrifice fly from Hunter Trowbridge in the top of the fifth gave Columbia a 1-0 lead. Andrew Warner extended the Cougars lead to 3-0 in the top of the sixth following his fourth homerun in as many games, and then Columbia tacked on one final run in the top of the eighth to take a 4-0 lead into the bottom half of the inning. The Lynx did their best to get back into the game and were able to rally for two runs in the bottom of the eighth but that was close as they would get as the Cougars picked up the final outs to solidify the doubleheader sweep.
Chris Wall (2-1) got the start in this one as he allowed five hits while striking out six in six scoreless innings on the mound. Derek Sallee (5-3) and Craig Smith (3-2) came in to relieve Wall as the two combined to allow three hits and two earned runs while striking out three in the final three innings of the game. Offensively, Andrew Warner went 2-4 with a two run homerun and Blade McKee went 2-4 with two runs scored to lead Columbia.
The baseball team is back in action tomorrow, April 21st when they play the final game of the three game series against the Lynx. First pitch is set for 11 a.m.
