Guerry Clegg: Columbus State falls to USC Aiken in Peach Belt brawl

For three months, the Columbus State Cougars proved themselves to be the best team in one of the best baseball conferences in Division II. Then Saturday morning, they were reminded just how tough that conference is.

The Cougars lost 8-5 to USC-Aiken in a game that so easily could have gone differently. If this were the middle of April, Saturday’s loss would have looked like a blip on the radar.

But it isn’t April. It’s late May, and this is the Southeast Regional of the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship. It put them in the losers bracket having to win five games over the next three days with the ace of their pitching staff pretty much done for the tournament.

“We came back and tied the ball game, had the opportunity in the bottom of the ninth and didn’t do it,” Appleton said. “We didn’t execute and they did.”

The hangover from the loss to Aiken carried over into Saturday’s elimination game against Mount Olive. CSU lost 7-2, and a season that looked like it held so much promise is over.

The loss to Aiken could be dissected into three parts. For the first seven innings, very little went right for the Cougars. Then in the eighth and ninth innings, it looked like the Cougars were constructing yet another dramatic comeback. Then the 10th inning was nothing short of disastrous.

“Baseball’s a funny game,” said Aiken coach Kenny Thomas. “You look like you are rolling along there and all of a sudden in the eighth inning the game went haywire. That’s the way baseball goes.”

The Cougars won the right to host this regional at Burger King Stadium by sweeping the Peach Belt regular season and tournament championships. And yet, their reward was to keep grinding against familiar competition. Three of the top four teams in the regional are from the Peach Belt — CSU, Aiken and Lander.

“Some people don’t realize that’s the Peach Belt way. We play like that all year in the Peach Belt. It’s battles – battles and battles and battles,” Thomas said. “Columbus State played really well. Their guys pitched well. I thought they played tremendous defense. Gosh, their shortstop made two plays early in the game. He caught that foul ball over there in the bullpen area, which I didn’t think he had any chance to make it. And he made that one really good play in the first inning, that one-hopper that was a shot.”

The Cougars fell behind 2-0 in the first inning on two most unlikely plays. The first came with a runner on first. It was a one-out grounder to Blake Edwards, their sure-handed third baseman. A made-to-order double play ball.

But the last hop stayed down and went through Edwards’ legs.

“We all felt good,” Appleton said. “That’s where we want the ball to be hit, to our best fielder. It just happened.”

“Sometimes the ball just don’t bounce your way,” Edwards said. “I saw it off the bat. It looked like it hit the lip when it came to me.”

That was followed by a strange sacrifice fly —to Edwards. Brian Parreira hit a popup down the left field line. Edwards made a sliding catch, but that enabled Chaz Pal to score.

“All of a sudden we’re playing uphill instead of getting out front,” Appleton said.

Playing uphill indeed. The Cougars fell behind 3-0, then cut it to 3-2, then got back down by three at 5-2. Their first break came when Erik Davis, Aiken’s starting pitcher, reached his pitch count. Nick Jobst came in and walked Jackson Oliver on four pitches, then hit Ryan Ihle on the first pitch. Cole Lee replaced Jobst and hit Mike McClellan on the first pitch. Suddenly, after six pitches, the bases were loaded with nobody out.

A high-bouncing single by Christian Miller made it 5-4, then the Cougars tied it on another high-bouncing grounder, this one by Justin Evans that Aiken second baseman Skylar Mercado fielded, but flipped a high back-hand toss to second base, missing what would have been the third out.

“I think everybody in our dugout thought we were going to win the ball game,” Appleton said.

But they couldn’t push across one more run, and the top of the order couldn’t do anything in the bottom of the ninth. Tyler Ammerman, Aiken’s No. 9 hitter – who already had a home run – ripped a two-out, bases loaded double to blow the game open.

Just like that, the Cougars faced the prospect of having to win out to keep their season going.

Said Aiken’s Thomas: “Life ain’t easy. NCAA baseball ain’t easy. And, as you saw today, Peach Belt baseball ain’t easy.”

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Guerry Clegg: Columbus State falls to USC Aiken in Peach Belt brawl."