Columbia, Mo. – This evening, the Columbia College men's baseball team was back in action as they played against the Williams Baptist University Eagles in an AMC doubleheader matchup. The Cougars won the first game 6-5 and game two 11-3. The Cougars are now 23-18 on the season and 18-8 in conference play.
This game served as senior day for the Cougars and in between the games, twelve seniors were honored for their hard work and dedication to the program. Seniors
Austin Schibler,
Blade McKee,
Brandon Boyer,
Chase Urhahn,
Derek Sallee,
Ethan Howser,
Gavin Jones,
Hunter Trowbridge,
Jacob Ford,
Jordan Copeland,
Luke Haines and
Nolan Rattai were all recognized.
In game one, the Cougars were on the board first as they scored two runs in the second inning. The Eagles responded by scoring a run in the third and fourth to tie the game at two. A hit from
Hayden Ludwig right down the middle scored another runner in for the Cougar lead, followed by another run scored to make it a 4-2 game. A bunt squeeze from Ludwig scored another runner in the fifth that extended the lead 5-2.
Nolan Rattai followed that with a hit down the middle to score another runner. Williams Baptist came back fighting in the seventh as they scored three runners to cut Columbia's lead 6-5. The Cougars defense was on top of their game though as they got the last three outs to hand the Eagles the loss.
Jacob Ford (2-5) was the starting pitcher for the Cougars as he allowed only one earned run and struck out seven batters in 3.2 innings of play.
Jordan Copeland (1-0),
Derek Sallee (0-2), and
Ethan Howser came in to relieve Ford as they only allowed a combined one earned run and struck out two batters in 3.1 innings of work. Offensively, the Cougars were led by
Hayden Ludwig who had a hit while scoring a run and had three RBI,
Blade McKee who had two hits and an RBI, and
Ethan Howser who had a hit while scoring two runs.
In game two, the Cougars scored in the second, but the Eagles responded in the third with two runs scored to take the lead. Howser doubled to left field and
Kenny Piper made the run from first base to home plate to tie the game at two. With the bases loaded and no outs in the fourth inning,
Bradley Prebay hit right down the middle to score two runners in to extend the lead 4-2. Williams Baptist adds another run in the fifth to cut Columbia's lead 4-3. The Cougars had the bases loaded in the sixth as they had no outs in the inning. Rattai tripled to center and all three Cougars on bases scored to extend the Cougars lead 8-3. Columbia went on to add two more runs in the inning to make it a 10-3 game in their favor. Piper hit a sac fly in the seventh to add another run to their lead and secure the 11-3 win.
Reid Browning (2-1) was the starting pitcher as he allowed only three earned runs struck out four batters in 5.0 innings of play.
Lane Threlkeld (2-1),
Andrew Baker and
Josiah Imhoff (3-1) came in to relieve Browning as they struck out a combined one batter and did not allow any earned runs in four innings of work. Offensively, the Cougars were led by
Nolan Rattai who had two hits while scoring a run and had three RBI,
Ethan Howser had two hits while scoring two runs and had one RBI, and
Bradley Prebay who had two hits while scoring a run and had two RBI to round out the top performers.
The baseball team is back in action Friday, April 26
th when they travel to Batesville, Arkansas to play against the Lyon College Scots in their final regular season AMC doubleheader. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.
