DELAND, Fla. — Despite scoring four runs over the final two innings, Columbia Baseball (1-1, 0-0 IVY) dropped its first game of the 2022 season, losing 12-8 to Stetson (3-3, 0-0 ASUN) on Saturday night on Melching Field at Conrad Park.
Columbia got a pair of home runs and four RBIs from
Cole Hage, the first two home runs of his career, including a three-run shot in the ninth inning to make Stetson work to get the final three outs. Hage was also joined by
Hayden Schott and
Anton Lazits, who both had their second multi-hit game of the season.
JD Ogden (0-1) made his first career start, going three innings, while at the tail end of the game
Justin Tucker came out of the pen and put up zeros in the eighth inning to give the Lions a shot in the ninth. But the early lead that Stetson built over the middle innings was too much for Columbia to overcome.
HOW IT HAPPENED: The first two innings went quietly for both sides, with neither team putting much offense together as both starting pitchers came out strong. Stetson opened the scoring in the third inning with a pair of runs to take a 2-0 lead after the first three frames.
Columbia answered in the fourth, thanks to an RBI groundout from
Weston Eberly that plated Hage, who had reached on a single. But Stetson had an answer, scoring five in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the sixth to pull away from the Lions.
Over that three inning stretch, the Lions did manage to keep the Hatter within arm's length, scoring three in the sixth on a solo blast from Hage and RBIs from
Griffin Palfrey and
Jacob Phelps. Columbia's pitching did settle down over the final three innings, thanks to
Camron Hubble's strong 2.2 IP and Tucker's eighth inning of work, but Stetson had done enough to hold off Columbia to take the game, 12-8.
GAME NOTES: Hage's solo home run in the sixth was his first career home run … Hage becomes the first Lion to have two home runs in a game since Chandler Bengtson hit a pair at Harvard in 2019 … Lazits and Schott have begun their careers with a pair of multi-hit games.
UP NEXT: Tomorrow, Columbia and Stetson will play the rubber game of the weekend series with the first day game of the 2022 season. That game is set to get started at 1 p.m. on Melching Field Conrad Park and will be streamed on Hatter Vision.
FOLLOWING THE LIONS: Stay up to date on all things Columbia Baseball by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsBaseball), Instagram (@culionsbaseball) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).
