COLUMBIA, Mo. – This afternoon the Harris-Stowe State University baseball team was back in action when they traveled to Columbia, Missouri, to take on the Columbia (Mo.) College Cougars in an AMC doubleheader. The Hornets were swept by the Cougars as they lost the first game by a final score of 4-0 and the second game by a final score of 8-7 to fall to 5-11 on the season and 1-5 in the American Midwest Conference. With the sweep, the Cougars move to 13-4 on the year and 4-2 in the AMC.

In the first game of the doubleheader, the Hornets had a tough time getting anything going offensively as they did not record a hit in the contest. However, they played tough defense and kept the Cougars off the board for the first four innings of the game. Columbia College picked up a run in the bottom of the fifth and three runs in the bottom of the sixth to solidify the 4-0 win.

Tomas Pinet Jr. (0-1) was the starting pitcher in this one as he allowed just six hits and two earned runs while striking out five in 5.0 innings of work. Brian Myers came in to relieve Pinet Jr., as he allowed three hits and two earned runs while striking out one in the final inning of the game.

The Hornets picked it up offensively in the second game of the doubleheader as they recorded 15 hits in the contest. They got on the board first in this one as they scored two runs in the top of the first to take an early 2-0 lead. The Cougars responded by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first, but three runs from the Hornets in the top of the second gave them a 5-3 lead. The Cougars bounced back and were able to pick up a run in the bottom of the third, but one run in the top of the seventh and one run in the top of the eighth gave the Hornets a 7-4 lead late in the contest. The Cougars once again answered and scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game, and then scored a run the bottom of the ninth to solidify the 8-7 win.

Armando Sierra was on the mound to start this one as he allowed 11 hits and four earned runs while striking out six in 7.1 innings on the mound. Brian Myers and Alex Williams (1-3) came in to relieve Sierra as the two combined to allow three hits and four earned runs while striking out one in the final inning of the game. Turner McDonald led the way at the plate as he went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. In addition, Matt Janocik went 2-for-5 with two RBI, Davie Pound went 2-for-2 with a run scored, and Logan Dryden went 2-for-3 with an RBI to round out the top performers for the Hornets.

The Hornets will return to the field tomorrow, March 27^th when they play the final two games of the four game series against Columbia (Mo.) College in Columbia, Missouri. The first game of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. with the second to follow. No visiting team spectators will be allowed to attend.