By BRYAN GRISHAM

CSCC Sports Information Director

   The Cleveland State baseball team fell victim to the long ball on Friday and Saturday as the Walters State Senators flexed their home run muscles the entire three game series slamming nine round-trippers total to take two out of three from the Cougars (19-9, 8-4). The Senators slammed their way to a 13-7 win on Friday and took game one on Saturday, 8-5 before the Cougars could salvage the final game of the three game set by a final score of 9-2.

   In game one on Saturday, the Cougars took an early 2-0 lead as Cory Hilton knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly and Cody Hooper did the same with a ground out in the first inning.

   Zac Messer tied the game for Walters in the third with a two-run double, but Hilton put the home team back on top an inning later with a two-run blast for a 4-2 lead.

   Walters State tied the game again in the fourth as Myles Cordell and Jon Dalton each hit a solo homer. Jesse Wierzbicki nailed a two-run dinger in the fifth as the Senators took a 6-4 lead.

   Cordell stayed hot as he knocked in two more runs in the seventh with a single to give his team a four run advantage. The Cougars pushed a run across in the bottom of the seventh on a wild pitch, but that would be the end of the comeback as they fell in game one. Trent Rothlin got the win for Walters while Ben Booker took the loss.

   In game two, the Cougars wasted no time as they put four runs on the board early. Andrew Root doubled in Cory Stooksbury who had doubled and Hooper followed with a run scoring single for a 2-0 lead in the first while Troy Zawadzki air-mailed a two run homer in the second inning for a 4-1 Cougar lead.

   Cleveland State scored three times in the fourth as Hilton came up with another RBI single while Hooper slammed a two-out, two-run homer for a 7-1 lead.

   Messer hit a solo homer for the Senators in the sixth, but Hilton answered in a big way in the seventh with a two-run blast as the Cougars avoided the sweep.

   Travis Tingle (3-1) pitched seven strong innings to get the win allowing only three hits and two runs while Austin Bridgewater took the loss for Walters State.

   On Friday, the Cougars fell victim to the long ball as the Senators banged out 14 hits including five homers and 13 runs as they took the first game of the series by a 13-7 final score.

   The Senators scored first on a wild pitch in the first inning and then put five more on the board in the third. Jesse Wierzbicki hit a solo shot and Cory Pate added a two-run homer as the lead grew to 6-0. The visitors then opened up a commanding lead with one more run in the fourth, four more in the sixth and two in the seventh to account for their 13 runs. Will Skinner hit a three-run homer in the sixth and Chad Hunter and Kyle Koeneman added a solo homer each in the seventh.

   Cory Hilton hit a two-run homer for the Cougars in the in the sixth while Justin Ridenour added a solo dinger in the seventh as Cleveland State cut the lead to 13-4.

   Adam Hindman picked up an RBI and Andrew Root and Hilton drew bases loaded walks in the ninth for an RBI each, but it was to little too late as the Senators took the big win in game one. Jay Bolen took the loss for the Cougars while Chad Bell got the win for the Senators.

   The Cougars will host Tennessee Wesleyan (jv) on Tuesday for a doubleheader starting at 1:00.