Cougars Split Pair of Games
Although the annual South Central Wooden Bat Tournament was cancelled because of impending rain for Saturday's
scheduled games, the Cougars did manage to get in a couple of contests on Friday night.
Tournament entries Casey-Westfield and Columbia made the trip to Lions Field to play in spite of the Saturday
cancellations and the Cougars thrashed the Warriors 13-3 in five innings and fell to the Eagles 3-1 in the late game.
In game one, starting pitcher Wade Crain held the visitors to five hits and three runs on five strikeouts
and three walks to run his record to 2-1 for the season.
Offensively, the Cougars got two hits each from Jayme Michel (one RBI), Tanner Bushue (four RBI's), and Aaron
Robb (2B, four RBI's) to lead the way while Crain pitched in with a double and two RBI's.
In game two, the Cougars came out on the losing end, but may have played their best baseball of the season
against a very talented Columbia squad.
Even though the Eagles are considered by many as one of the top teams in Class A in the state, that didn't
stop Tanner Bushue from pitching his heart out in the toughluck 3-1 loss.
Bushue allowed just a single and a solo homer until the sixth when the Eagles put the eventual winning runs
on the board with two tallies on a single and back-to-back doubles.
He finished strong and in the end his stats showed that he gave up only five hits on four walks and twelve
strikouts.
After scoring their only run in the first on a bases-loaded fielder's choice from Zac Cain, the Cougars came
up empty the rest of the way.
Although the Cougars did put runners in scoring position three different times, they couldn't get
the big hit when they needed it.
Up next for the Cougars is a roadtrip to Vandalia on Monday to battle the Vandals in a 4:15 PM contest.
