The Cleveland State baseball team tangled with Georgia Perimeter for the second time in a week on Tuesday afternoon at Cougar Field and once again when the dust had settled the battle of the big cats ended in a split doubleheader.
The Cougars won a dramatic marathon 10 inning affair in game one, 3-2 while the Jaguars pounced in a big way in game two by pounding the Cougars for a 15-1 win.
The Jaguars struck first in their first turn at the plate in game one as Landon Lindley doubled, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a groundout for a 1-0 lead.
Good pitching on both sides took over for the next several innings until the Cougars were able to scratch out a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game.
A leadoff double from Evan Speicher started the rally and Dalton Rogers ripped a single to centerfield to bring Speicher around to knot the game at 1-1.
The Jags jumped back in front in the top of the seventh and with two outs pushed the go-ahead run across on a wild pitch.
The Cougars didn't blink though, as Chase Shaw singled in the bottom of the seventh, moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Jansen Roberson and down to their last out, it was Speicher coming up with the big hit, a single up the middle, to tie the game and send it into extra innings.
Neither team could do much until they reached the bottom of the 10th when the Cougars finally put an end to game one. Jared Davis drew a walk and moved over to third base on a double from Rogers. Chris Caffrey then came up with the game-winner as he singled in Davis for a dramatic 3-2 Cougar win.
Brandon Leonard picked up the win in relief for the Cougars while Jake Wright started and tossed six-plus strong innings. Michael Bentley took the loss for the Jaguars as they used six pitchers in game one.
The Jaguars put a pair of runs on the board in the top of the third inning to take the lead in game two.
The Cougars got one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame as Speicher added another RBI to his totals with a single, but the visitors took control of the game after that with a run in the fourth on a solo homer by Tyler Landmon and then tacked on three more in the fifth on an error, a single and a wild pitch for a 6-1 lead.
Jared Curry belted a two-run homer in the sixth for the Jags, J.T. Phillips hit a solo homer in the seventh and Austin Simmons capped the day off for the visitors with a grand slam to finish off a seven run seventh and gain a split of the twinbill.
Joe Marlow picked up the win for the Jaguars while Luis Valdez and Sheffield pitched in relief. Kevin Carr took the loss for the Cougars (8-5) while Jordan Whitmire, Gabe Rich, Matt Allen and Matt Roueche all pitched in relief.
The Cougars will host Jackson State for a three-game weekend series.