By WRBL Staff
CSU Sports Information
Columbus, GA - Armstrong Atlantic State closer Brandon McCreery pitched his squad out of a ninth-inning jam in the second game of a Peach Belt Conference double header on Saturday, preserving a 6-5 win and a split with #7 Columbus State. CSU won the first game on Saturday 16-2.CSU Sports Information
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Stumble It!CSU trailed 6-4 entering the ninth and got the first two runners into scoring position when Aaron Beasley reached on an error and Brad Bowen doubled down the right field line. Casey Cook then lifted a pop to shallow right field that Pirate second baseman Kenny Cail misplayed for an error, but AASU still managed to get an out on a base running blunder by Beasley, leaving runners at the corners. Bowen then came home on a wild pitch to make it 6-5. After a Brandon Masters popup for the second out, Rodney Rutherford drilled a shot to center field that fell just short of his second homer of the game to end the contest and give McCreery his seventh save.
AASU had pushed across three big insurance runs in the seventh to get some breathing room, answering a pair of Cougar runs to close the game to 3-2. Josh Wilson drilled a solo homer to make it 4-2, and then Joey Davis delivered an RBI single and Derrek Miller plated another run with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-2. The Pirates had taken a 3-0 lead in the third inning on a squeeze bunt by Miller and RBI singles by Chris Smith and Juan Dorado.
CSU got within two at 6-4 on Rodney Rutherford's towering homer to right-center in the eighth. The clout was his 22nd of the season, tying him with Dusty Devore for the school record for a single season set in 1996. C.J. Bressoud also homered earlier in the game and Jonnie Geiger drove home a run with a single to account for the other Cougar runs.
Anthony Arrington (6-5) took the loss on the mound, allowing nine hits and five earned runs in 6.1 innings. Jason Weaver fanned three and did not allow a hit or a run in the final two and two-thirds innings. Gieger was the only Cougar with two hits in the contest.
Ross Partee earned the win for AASU to move to 6-2 on the year. He allowed four earned runs on eight hits with three strikeouts in eight innings of work. Dorado, Davis, and Smith each had two hits in the game.
In game one, CSU exploded for 12 runs in the seventh inning to win going away. The inning featured a grand slam homer from Brad Bowen among CSU's 10 hits in the frame, four Pirate errors, and a total of 19 hitters sent to the plate by the Cougars.
Danny Davidson took advantage of the outburst to move to 6-3 on the season. He allowed just one earned run - on Kenny Cail's ninth-inning homer - and fanned 11 in hurling his second straight complete game. He did not walk a hitter and scattered seven hits.
Cole Martin led a 17-hit CSU attack by going 4-5. Shaun Spearman added three hits and the Cougars got two each from Geiger, Masters, and Thomas Morrison in the game.
CSU (36-14, 17-7) will play its final home game of the season on Wednesday, hosting West Georgia in a 4 PM start for Senior Day. AASU travels to Valdosta State on Tuesday at 6 PM in its next outing.
