COLUMBUS, Ga. – Brian Burgess became the Gulf South Conference's leader in career saves, and Jeb Huber made a strong first impression as the University of West Alabama baseball team split its doubleheader with No. 11 Columbus State on Sunday. The Tigers took the first game 3-1 before falling 2-1 in extra innings in the nightcap.

The Tigers sit at 1-2 on the season, while CSU is 2-1.

Burgess (1) notched his 26th career save in the first contest of the afternoon as he pitched two innings of relief to preserve the victory for Huber. The Huntsville, Ala. native surrendered three hits and gave up the lone CSU run, but slammed the door on any further rally from the Cougars with his third strike out to close out the game.

Huber (1-0) was impressive in his UWA debut as he earned the win after tossing seven strong innings. The transfer from Delgado Community College gave up just three hits and struck out five Cougars while walking only two.

Only twice did Columbus State have a runner in scoring position against the lefty.

The top three of the West Alabama lineup was productive in the opening affair as the trio combined to go 5-for-12 at the plate, and Ladarrius Cole scored two of UWA's three runs. He led off both the first and third innings with base hits, and he was plated by a Brian Simone double in the opening frame and a two-bagger by Chris Duncan in the third.

Jeremy Rice scored the other run of the day of the Tigers as he drew a walk to lead off the top frame of the seventh. Rice moved down to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third after Cole reached on a fielder's choice. When Cole attempted to steal second, the throw skipped into center field allowing Rice to score.

Tyler Carpenter (0-1) was charged with the loss for the Cougars.

Cole started things off in the second game where he left off in the first, singling to begin the contest. Standing at third after a wild pitch, Simone hit a sacrifice fly that was deep enough to allow the speedy Cole to score.

The score would remain 1-0 in favor of the Tigers until the fifth inning when the Cougars were finally able to scratch out a run against Barry Meeks.

Also making his UWA debut, Meeks tossed five strong innings as he allowed just three hits and the one run while not factoring into the decision.

Taylor Bratton relieved Meeks, and the game remained deadlocked into the extra frame. In the eighth, a pair of UWA errors allowed Columbus State to score the winning run. Bratton (0-1) was tagged with the loss despite throwing a solid 2.2 innings.

He gave up just two hits while also striking out three.

Blake Sills (1-0) earned the win for CSU.