COLUMBUS, Ga. - The No. 17 Columbus State baseball team put together four-run, third innings in both games Sunday afternoon in defeating Lander, 7-4 and 6-2, in a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader at Charles F. Ragsdale Field.
Columbus State improves to 31-15 overall and 15-8 in the PBC, while Lander slips to 28-21, 11-11. The final game of the series, which is Lander's last game before next week's Peach Belt Conference tournament, will begin at 1 p.m., Monday.
In the first game, Columbus State took a 4-0 lead in the third inning after Cameron Scott's RBI double plated Eric Weiss and Bruce Alter stroked a three-run homer to right field.
The Cougars extended the lead to 5-0 in the fourth when Cameron Griffin scored on Eric Skinner's groundout, then made it 7-0 in the fifth on RBI singles by Alter and Griffin.
Lander got on the scoreboard in the seventh and cut the Cougar lead to 7-2 on AJ Nunziato's two-run homer.
The Bearcats' Jeff May and Jacob Tisdale each had solo home runs in the ninth for Lander's final runs.
For Lander, May batted 2-for-4.
For CSU, Alter went 2-for-3 and Scott 2-for-4.
CSU's Thomas Campbell (7-2) earned the complete-game win by striking out 13, walking one and allowing four earned runs on eight hits.
The Bearcats' Cory Hopper (7-3) was tagged with the loss after striking out three, walking two and allowing seven earned runs on 10 hits in 4.2 innings
In the second game, the Cougars took a 4-0 lead in the third as Ryan Lewis' sacrifice fly scored Weiss, Scott scored on Alter's RBI single and Logan Dollar smacked a two-run homer.
Lander trimmed the lead to 4-1 in the fourth on May's RBI single that sent Jordan Owens home.
CSU went up 5-1 in the fifth on Tyler Googe's sacrifice fly that pushed Lewis across the plate.
May's RBI single plated Tisdale to cut the Cougars lead to 5-2 in the sixth, but CSU bounced right back in the bottom of the inning with another run when Lewis' RBI single plated Noah Watkins.
CSU's Tyler Carpenter (6-3) earned the win after striking out six, walking two and allowing two earned runs on 10 hits in 6.2 innings.
Chris Thomas (6-5) suffered the loss for Lander, striking out three, walking three and allowing six earned runs on nine hits in six innings.
For Lander, May went 3-for-3, while Nunziato, Owens, Tisdale and Kevin Childs each batted 2-for-4.
For the Cougars, Lewis went 2-for-2, Alter 2-for-3, and Scott and Dollar 2-for-4.
