CSU’s promising season comes to sudden end

The Columbus State baseball team’s season ended on Saturday night as the Cougars lost 7-2 to Mount Olive in an elimination game in the NCAA Division II Southeastern Regional at Burger King Stadium.

Senior Mike McClellan, the Cougars’ offensive leader, gave the Cougars an early 1-0 lead with a solo home run in the top of the first inning. CSU was in the unique situation of being the visiting team after falling into the losers side of the double-elimination bracket in the tournament.

Mount Olive scored the next seven unanswered runs with CSU starter Luke Porter chased off the mound in the top of the third after allowing four straight hits, the last of which a two-run home run from Stephen Wallace. Porter was saddled with the loss, allowing six earned runs and five hits in two and a third innings of work.

“From hindsight, we probably should have gone with (Brandon) Koehler,” CSU coach Greg Appleton said. “I thought Porter was ready to go. The five-run inning was the difference in the game.”

“We scored just two runs. That was the big thing. We knew we had to score some runs, and we just didn’t get it done.”

Jacob Boccucci relieved Porter for an inning and two thirds, allowing one unearned run, while Koehler pitched the final four innings for the Cougars, shutting out Mount Olive by allowing just one hit and striking out four.

While the late pitching shut the Trojans out, the Cougar bats couldn’t find life. The offense that averaged over 10 runs per contest was stagnant through most of the game.

While CSU ended up outhitting Mount Olive 13-8 in the contest, the vast majority of Cougar hits and baserunners came with two outs in the inning. Columbus State ended the game with 12 runners left on base compared to just 4 for Mount Olive, and the Trojans turned the only two double plays of the game, ironically both off the bat of Ryan Ihle, the Cougars’ leading hitter coming into the game.

“I don’t know what the heck happened today,” Appleton said. “I think maybe we just got the life sucked out of us in that first game (against USC-Aiken). (Mount Olive) got a big inning, and it felt like we were playing uphill the whole time. Give them credit. It was just like we were fighting windmills all day today.”

Appleton had a long closed-door meeting with his players after the loss. The Cougars had a senior laden team, and besides being stacked with offensive power and defensive prowess, they didn’t lack in the leadership department, either.

“I just left a locker room full of very dejected, sad guys, not because we lost, but because the ride is over for this team,” Appleton said. “That’s the hardest thing for me and the coaches and players. This was a very tight-knit group with a lot of seniors; for a lot of them, this will be the last game they ever play.

“That finality is tough to handle. I got emotional after the game because I told them they made my job so easy every day. We have practice at 2 o’clock, they’re out there at 1. That’s a coach’s dream. This team pretty much ran itself.

“It was a lot of fun, and I’m just sad the ride’s over, because it was a good ride.”

USC Aiken 8, Columbus State 5

Columbus State lost 8-5 in 10 innings to USC Aiken on Saturday morning.

“We didn’t get the breaks and didn’t make the pitches when we needed to,” Appleton said, “and you have to give it to Aiken, they did. They got some big hits, made some big pitches.

“We had our opportunities and didn’t cash in on them.”

Aiken got a huge three-run single in the top of the 10th from Tyler Ammerman. The shortstop also hit a homer in the fourth inning.

“What a tough ball game,” Aiken coach Kenny Thomas said. “That is the Peach Belt way. We play like that all year in the Peach Belt.”

CSU was behind Aiken for most of the game, which had been scheduled for Friday afternoon then delayed due to heavy rain. The Pacers, the fourth seed, scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning as CSU made a pair of errors.

Meanwhile, Aiken starter Erik Davis kept CSU off balance. CSU managed just a Blake Edwards two-run homer through seven innings.

With a 5-2 lead going to the bottom of the eighth, Thomas decided to replace Davis, who missed three weeks late in the season with an injury. But closer Nick Jobst walked Jackson Oliver on four pitches and hit Ryan Ihle in the ribs with the next pitch.

Thomas quickly replaced Jobst with Cole Lee, who hit McClellan with his first pitch. Christian Miller chopped one that bounced over the head of the first baseman to drive in two runs.

After Blake Edwards grounded out, Matt Nettles hit a grounder to the third baseman. McClellan, who was going on contact, stopped halfway between third and home and was tagged out in a rundown.

After Hunter Bowling walked to load the bases, Justin Evans hit a grounder toward the second baseman. The ball took a high hop, but Skylar Mercado caught it and tried to backflip the ball to the shortstop. Marcado’s flip was high and pulled Ammerman off the bag, allowing pinch-runner Grant Berry to score the tying run.

In the 10th inning, CSU’s Robert Hayes, who had come on in the seventh inning, ran out of gas. He gave up a single and a walk around two outs and was taken out for Evans.

Evans walked the first batter he faced to load the bases, then gave up the long single to Ammerman.

“(Ammerman) killed us,” Appleton said. “I knew we needed to get the two guys out in front of him because he was hot, and we just didn’t do it. That was a big key, we walked those two guys in front of him.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 10:00 PM with the headline "CSU’s promising season comes to sudden end."