NEW YORK — A four-for-five day at the plate from
Jack Cooper and a final three-plus innings of scoreless work from the bullpen helped extend Columbia Baseball's (19-13, 10-2 IVY) winning streak to 12 games, as the Lions took down Marist (18-14, 7-5 MAAC), 15-7, in a midweek matchup at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium.
Cooper had a two-run blast in the fifth and knocked in three total runs to help power the Lions offense to its 12th game this year with at least 10 runs scored, and sixth with at least 15 runs scored. He was joined by a great performance from
Billy Black and
Derek Yoo, both coming out of the pen to pitch a combined 3.2 innings of scoreless work to hold off any late charges from the Red Foxes.
"
Phil Healy gave us another real good start," said head coach
Brett Boretti. "And the bullpen worked in and out of some jams. Offensively the guys stayed disciplined all day and
Jack Cooper had a big day at the plate."
Elsewhere in the Columbia lineup, the Lions got production from
EJ Kreutzmann (2-for-4),
Hayden Schott (2-for-3) and a two RBI three walk day from the leadoff hitter,
Cole Hage. Healy also added a strong 3.2 innings in his second straight midweek game start, getting the Lions off to a strong start in the eventual victory that came four hours later.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Healy came out and shut down the Red Foxes over the first two innings, sitting the Marist hitters down in order and after the first two innings, Columbia's starter had faced the minimum. In the bottom of the second, the Lions got the bats going, and it started with a leadoff double to right from Schott, extending his hitting streak to 12 games.
The next two Lions got out, and with two outs up stepped Cooper. In his first at-bat Cooper got his bat going, smacking a single to left that scored Schott from second and got the Lions on the board.
Austin Mowrey then smashed a single up the middle that hit off the pitcher and advanced Cooper to second, Hage then walked to load the bases.
Andy Blake sent an 0-2 pitch right back at the pitcher, scoring Cooper and advancing the runners, leaving the bases loaded. Kreutzmann then drew a bases loaded walk to knock the Marist starter out of the game. A wild pitch from the Marist relief pitcher scored Hage and back-to-back walks from
Weston Eberly and Schott put the finishing touches on Columbia's 5 run inning, with Schott's walk bringing home Blake.
Marist, in the only threatening inning they had, tied the game up at 5-5 with a five fourth of their own, but in the bottom of the fourth the Lions again regained the lead, this time for good. Hage led the inning off with a walk and he would eventually score on a throwing error on the catcher, after drawing the throw after stealing third base.
Cooper's two-run shot in the fifth extended Columbia's lead to 8-5, and a sacrifice fly from Blake later in the same inning tagged on another run to make it 9-5 heading into the sixth inning.
Marist added two more of their own in the top of the sixth, but Columbia quickly erased one of those runs on a sacrifice fly by Schott to score Eberly. The Lions would add one more in the seventh and four in the eighth to finish off Marist, getting a big three-plus innings of work out of the pen from Black and Yoo.
Black entered the game for the winning Cameron Hubble (1-0) with one out in the sixth and two on, and over the next 1.2 innings of work he gave up zero runs on just two hits, giving way to Yoo. Giving up just one hit, Yoo got the final six outs needed for the Lions to lock up their 12th straight win and third straight midweek victory.
GAME NOTES:
- Columbia has won 12 straight games …
- The 12-game winning streak is the longest since 2014 when Columbia won 15 straight from Apr. 4-25, 2014 …
- Hage has reached base in all 30 games he has played in …
- This was the longest game of the season for the Lions (four hours) …
- Columbia stole six bases in the game, the fifth time this season Columbia has had at least five stolen bases in a game …
- Black and Yoo combined for 3.2 innings 3 H 0 R 1 K
UP NEXT: The Lions remain at Robertson Field at Satow Stadium when they host Yale over the weekend of Apr. 23-24, and on Sunday, Apr. 24, the Lions will celebrate the Class of 2022 on Senior Day in the final weekend of regular season home action for the 2022 season.
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).
