The Cleveland State baseball team took 2 out of 3 in a weekend series with Volunteer State.
Cleveland State started their 3-game conference series on Friday April 22 with a five inning 11-1-win vs Volunteer State scoring seven runs in the first inning and four in the fifth with a 14-hit attack and a first inning homerun off the bat of AJ Swader. Owen Clark went the distance winning his fourth game of the season while striking out six.
Leadoff hitter Bryce Jenkins led the way with three hits while Swader, Andre Tarver and Bryce Burkey had two hits each. Jaylen Jones, Jacob Robinson, Colby Taylor, Avery Collins and Rhett Hammontree each had one hit while Swader, Robinson and Tarver parlayed their hits in to two RBI’s each.
On the game Clark threw 79 pitches, giving up five hits in facing 21 batters.
In the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday April 23, Cougar baseball rallied for three runs in the seventh inning to erase a Volunteer 5-3 lead to win the game 6-5 as Bryce Houghton saved his eighth game of the season closing out the bottom of the seventh.
Jenkins started the game twirling four innings followed by Daniel Crabtree who took the win, his sixth of the year.
With a total of eight hits on the game RBI’s from Tarver, Hammontree and Burkey gave the Cougars a short lived 3-0 lead as the Pioneers scored a combined four runs in the third and fourth inning to take a 4-3 lead. RBI’s from Jones, Collins and Brandon LeJeune in the seventh gave Cleveland State the eventual win.
Collins and Burkey had two hits each while Robinson, Tarver, LeJeune and Yosuany Herrera each had one. The Cougars had three stolen bases, one by Tarver and two by Burkey.
Cleveland State ended the doubleheader day taking a 13-3 loss to Volunteer, sending six pitchers to the mound in a bullpen game.
Managing just four hits the Cougars took a 3-1 lead in to the bottom of the third only to have Volunteer score enough runs in the third and fourth for the five-inning win.
Robinson with a three-run scoring double in the third was joined in hitting by Swader, Ryan Stephens and Hammontree who also had one hit each.
Cougar baseball with an overall record of 26-21 and a conference mark of 9-14 conclude the 2022 regular season with a three-game conference home series vs Southwest Tennessee starting on Thursday April 28 with a nine-inning game scheduled to start at 2 p.m. EST. Friday’s April 29 doubleheader start times are set for 12 and 3 p.m. EST.