Cleveland State’s attempt at staging a come from behind win was thwarted by Gordon State Tuesday afternoon.
By the end of nine innings, the Cougars came up one run short in a 5-4 game.
Finding themselves in a 5-0 hole after three innings, Cleveland State got the bats going in the bottom of the fourth to cut their deficit to just two runs. They held Gordon State off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game, but only came up with one more run in the bottom of the seventh.
“Today was a tough loss. We were down 5-0 after three innings. We managed to get it to 5-4 and had chances to win the game late,” Cleveland State head coach Mike Policastro said.
“Our bullpen did a really good job of keeping Gordon from scoring the rest of the game. Hopefully we learned from this and look forward to playing Chattanooga on Saturday in a non-conference double header.”
Sean McDermott started off the Cougars’ at bat in the bottom of the fourth with a home run. Chase Fullington received a free pass to first base and then three batters later, made it home for the team’s second run thanks to a wild pitch. Billy Brand was brought in next by a sac fly from Hagan Kennedy.
Cleveland State’s final run was scored by Brett Browning, who came in on McDermott’s single.
McDermott finished the game with two RBI and was 2-for-4 at the plate.
Grant Crosby took the loss at the mound, giving up four hits and three runs in two innings. Corey Linz handled five innings, where he struck out 13 Gordon State batters, gave up four hits and two runs.
The Cougars play at Chattanooga State this Saturday, at noon and 2 p.m.