MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The University of Montevallo baseball team is set for a trip to Columbus, Ga. to take on the Columbus State Cougars in a midweek matchup on Wednesday, Mar. 6.
The Falcons are looking to bounce back from a 1-3 week and will face the red-hot Cougars in a midweek clash for the fourth-straight road game.
Seth Gurr will take the mound for UM with a 1-1 record on the year, a 5.17 ERA and 10 K's.
GAME INFORMATION
WHO: Montevallo (11-7, 3-3 GSC) vs. Columbus State (10-9, 1-2 PBC)
WHEN: Wednesday, Mar. 6
WHERE: Columbus, Ga. | Ragsdale Field at Burger King Stadium
WATCH
LIVE STATS
So Far This Season…
The 2024 campaign has been a bit up and down just over one month in. After dropping the first three games of the year, the Falcons bounced back with eight consecutive wins but are 3-4 since. This past week, Montevallo dropped its midweek matchup, 10-2, to No. 16 Georgia Southwestern and lost the series, 2-1, to Delta State.
With the series win over Christian Brothers, 2-1, and a lone 2-0 win in game two against Delta State, the Falcons are 3-3 in conference play and 11-7 overall. Before last week, the Falcons were ranked No. 9 in the NCBWA South Region poll but are just receiving votes this week.
Despite recent inconsistency, the Falcons remain one of the top five offenses in the high-powered Gulf South Conference. UM is third in the league with 191 hits and the fifth most runs with 143.
UM's pitching staff continues to lead the way and has a GSC second-best 156 strikeouts on the year, including 30 looking.
Scouting Columbus State
The Cougars are winners of their last seven out of nine games but lost their first Peach Belt Conference series of the season to North Georgia. CSU dropped the first game 7-13, won the second 5-4 and lost the rubber match 6-9.
In their previous midweek, Columbus State defeated GSC opponent West Florida in two games and two days. CSU put up 15 runs on the Argonauts in game one and then defeated UWF in a pitchers dual in game two where the Cougars were down 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth and were able to come back to down West Florida.
As a team, CSU is batting .295 while they lead the Peach Belt with 20 home runs on the season. The Cougars are third in the PBC with 189 hits on the year and they are a top slugging team in the conference with a slugging percentage of .447.
Series History Against Columbus State
Montevallo is 7-19 against Columbus State since 2013 and is just 3-10 on the road. CSU has won the last eight games. The most recent win for the Falcons was on Mar. 26, 2017, when the Falcons won in walk-off fashion for the third straight came to sweep the Cougars.
The Falcons haven't won in Columbus, Georgia since May 10, 2014, 16-6.
Player Highlights Montevallo:
Gino Cozzi turned in another dominant performance on the mound against Delta State last week as he threw 7.0 scoreless innings, struck out five and gave up just five hits. The senior earned his fourth win and is now 4-1 on the year and is tied for the team lead in strikeouts alongside
Logan Samuels with 29. After giving up six runs in his first start of the season against Rollins, Cozzi has given up just five runs over the last four starts, earning a win in each. He leads Montevallo with a .93 WHIP this year and has a 3.33 ERA.
Connor Crowson continues to pace the Falcons at the plate with a .381 batting average, a team-high 19 runs batted in and a .512 on-base percentage.
Evan Liddie tallied five hits last week for UM, scored three runs and has a team-high nine stolen bags on the year.
Ethan Huddleston and
Christian Kallaher each lead UM with four long-balls on the season.
Player Highlights Columbus State
Win Johns is the top hitter for the Cougars with a .446 average. Johns is the reigning Peach Belt Conference Player of the Week as he had 12 hits in 18 at-bats while he had three homers and seven RBI. Johns and Derek Wylie lead the team with seven home runs apiece while Wylie leads the team with 21 RBI.
On the mound, submarine pitcher, Leo Giannoni, leads CSU with a 1.61 ERA and a .94 WHIP in 22.1 innings pitched. Giannoni has seven relief appearances, has struck out 26 batters and has only walked five on the season.
