Columbia
South Alabama
Baseball Pounds Out 22 Hits in 17-5 Series-Ending Win over South Alabama
3/14/2011 5:30:00 PM | Baseball
MOBILE, Ala. - Columbia scored in seven of the nine innings, putting up 17 runs on 22 hits in a 17-5 victory over South Alabama on Monday afternoon at Stanky Field. The Lions won their second straight against the Jaguars and split the four-game series. Jason Banos and Eric Williams each drove in five runs and every Columbia regular had a base hit and every regular either scored or drove in a run.
The Lions jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the top half of the first inning. Nick Cox doubled to right center on the first pitch of the game from Jaguar starter Collin Blankenship and came around to score on a double by Dario Pizzano, his fifth straight base hit. Two batters later, Banos singled home Pizzano to make it 2-0.
In the second, Columbia scored four runs after there were two outs. Nick Ferraresi singled home Jon Eisen, who singled and stole a base and the Lions eventually loaded the bases for Williams, making his first start of the season at first base.
Williams drilled the first pitch he saw deep to right field, off the base of the wall that scored Pizzano, Ferraresi and Banos, giving the Lions a 6-0 advantage.
South Alabama got a run back in the bottom of the inning but Lion starter Stefan Olson struck out Taylor White on a changeup to minimize the damage.
The Lions scored three in the fourth, two on a Banos double and one on an RBI single by Mike Fischer to make it 9-1. Banos drove in his fourth run of the game the following inning with a run-scoring single to make it 10-1 through five.
After Columbia made it 12-1 in the sixth, South Alabama scored three times in the bottom of the inning with one out to get to within 12-4. Columbia reliever Zack Tax, who notched his first collegiate win, did well to get the final two outs and keep the score at 12-4.
Harrison Slutsky and Eric Williams pitched the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to help close out the victory for Columbia, which improves its record to 4-3.
Banos, Williams, Cox and Eisen each had three hits for Columbia. Eisen and Pizzano also scored three runs apiece.
Taylor White had four hits in six trips for South Alabama, which left 20 runners on base in the game. Columbia had 17 left on base.
Columbia moves on to play a two-game series at Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Myers, Fla. beginning Tuesday, March 15 at 6:30 p.m.
NOTES:
This was the first time Columbia had met South Alabama in baseball ... Adam Lind, Marlon Anderson, Luis Gonzalez and Eddie Stanky are some of the Major Leaguers who played at South Alabama ... Columbia posted its largest hit total since last season's 24-hit output in the doubleheader opener at Harvard ... rookie shortstop Aaron Silbar made his collegiate debut and had two hits in five at-bats and scored a run ... Kevin Roberts made his first appearance of the season in the sixth inning and provided a run-scoring single in the ninth inning ... Alex Black singled in his first at-bat of the season, driving in a run in the ninth inning ... Jon Eisen finished a home run short of the cycle ... his fifth-inning triple was Columbia's first three-bagger of the season ... each team drew 10 bases on balls ... there were 412 pitches thrown in the game that lasted three hours and twenty-eight minutes.
