Box Score Joplin, Mo. – This afternoon the Columbia College baseball team was back in action when they continued play in the 2018 AMC Baseball Championships against Central Baptist (Ark.) College in Joplin, Missouri. The Cougars, who were defeated by Williams Woods yesterday by a final score of 5-0, were able to bounce back today as they defeated the Mustangs by a final score of 15-4 to improve to 33-15 on the season.
Columbia College was able to put together 16 hits in the game. They got off to a great start in this one as they scored two runs in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. They continued to put the ball in play as the game progressed and scored one run in the top of the fifth and three runs in the top of the sixth to take a 6-0 lead into the seventh. Despite being down, the Mustangs battled back and were able to rally for two runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh and added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth to cut the Cougars lead to 6-4 heading into the final inning of play. However, that was as close as they would get as Columbia College exploded for nine runs in the top of the ninth capped off by a three run home run from Andrew Warner to solidify their first postseason win in program history.
Dakota Stone (7-1) was on the mound for the Cougars as the senior allowed eight hits and two earned runs while striking out four in 8.0 innings on the mound. Lane Threlkeld came into relieve Stone in the ninth and picked up one strikeout in the final inning of the game. Bradley Prebay led the way at the plate for Columbia as he went 3-5 five with four RBI's and two runs scored. In addition to Prebay, Andrew Warner went 3-6 with three RBI's, Justin Randle went 3-5 with an RBI, Jordan Wright went 1-4 with an RBI, Blade McKee went 1-5 with an RBI, and Joshua Miller had an RBI to round out the top performers for the Cougars.
The baseball team is back in action tomorrow, May 4th when they continue play in the 2018 AMC Baseball Championships in Joplin, Missouri. The Cougars will take on either Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University or Missouri Baptist University starting at 1 p.m.
