COLUMBUS — Columbus Christian Academy hosted Calhoun Academy in the first game of their Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Class 2A playoff series on Tuesday. The Rams, 5-6, fell 5-1 at home to the No. 1 seed Cougars after a close battle through the first few innings.
The Rams swept Lee Academy out of Arkansas in the first round last week, taking a 17-8 road win and finishing the job in Game 2 at home with a 4-0 victory.
Rams pitcher Gavin Cook started on the mound, recording six strikeouts through five innings of work.
Cook has quickly become a key player for the Rams, and proved his worth on the mound and at the plate on Tuesday.
“That kid is something else,” Rams head coach William Johnston said. “He started at second base last year as a seventh grader, and at one point this year his batting average was .731. He is an irreplaceable kid, he has a great attitude and he’s a solid ballplayer. I expect big things out of him in the next few years.”
Cook had the team in good shape and would have kept the game in the balance if not for some defensive errors. In the end, though, it was the lack of production at the plate that lost the game.
“We just have to finish,” Johnston said. “There are two more games, they have to beat us twice. They had to burn their No. 1 guy. We had Cook on the bump, an eighth grader. We hoped for three innings and he gave us five. We couldn’t have asked for more from him.”
In addition to his pitching, Cook recorded two of the Rams’ four hits on the day.
In the fifth inning, trailing 3-0, the Rams got one run back on an error as a throw to second overshot the target, but it was the only run of the day for the hosts.
The Cougars recorded six outs in six at-bats over the final two innings, adding an RBI and a sacrifice fly in the seventh to seal the 5-1 win.
“We’ll work on the breaking ball,” Johnston said of the offensive performance. “We swung at too many bad breaking balls today and weren’t disciplined enough at the plate. Coming into today, we were averaging 10-15 hits a game, and we just weren’t disciplined enough to do it tonight.”
The Rams will play in the best-of-3 series finale doubleheader today at Calhoun Academy and will have their regular ace, Tyler Phillips, on the mound as they hope to force a rubber match.
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