GREENWOOD – Lenoir-Rhyne pitcher Jesse Jordan took a shutout into the ninth inning and Evan Taylor homered to lead the Bears to a 6-3 non-conference baseball victory over the Lander Bearcats Saturday afternoon at Legion Field.
It was Lander's season-opener and Chris Moore's head coaching debut as the Bearcats fell to 0-1. Lenoir-Rhyne beat Lander ace pitcher Chris Munn and improved to 1-1. The teams will meet again Sunday at 1 p.m. at Legion Field.
Taylor led the Bears by going 3-for-4 with a homer and two runs scored.
Danny Morgan was Lander's leading hitter, going 2-for-4. Brooks Arnette and Nate Mangiapane had RBI singles.
Lenoir-Rhyne grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth as Taylor and Dallas Tarleton each singled to left, and Daniel Smith reached on an error to load the bases. Billy Doyle walked to force in one run, and Hank Wofford hit a sacrifice fly to left to make it 2-0.
The Bearcats threatened in the bottom of the fourth when Jesse Barbaro hit a two-out double to the fence in center, and Morgan reached on an infield single. But Doyle made a nice catch of Munn's long fly ball in deep right to end the inning.
Taylor homered over the center field fence in the fifth to give the Bears a 3-0 lead.
Bearcats second baseman Jared Altus saved a run in the sixth. Mark Drucker hit a leadoff double off relief pitcher Justin Altman and moved to third on a ground out. With the infield in and one out, Altus stopped Doyle's hard ground ball, held the runner at third and threw Doyle out. Altman got the third out on a grounder to third.
The Bears tacked on three runs in the ninth off Lander reliever William Dudley. Wofford beat out an infield single, was bunted to second by Derek Pugh, and scored on Rob Mullin's single to left. After a walk, two more runs came home on an error by left fielder Hunter Ruoss.
Jordan took a three-hit shutout into the ninth before Lander got on the scoreboard. Malcolm McLeod and Morgan singled, and Munn reached on an error to score a run. Then late-inning replacements Arnette and Mangiapane had RBI singles through the left side in their first official Lander at-bats. But with the tying runs on base, Jordan struck out Adam Young to end the game.
Lander starting pitcher Munn (0-1) tossed five innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits while striking out seven and walking one. Munn struck out the side in the first inning and fanned two in the second. Altman pitched three shutout innings of relief, allowing three hits and walking two. Dudley allowed one earned run on two hits in one inning of work, walking one and striking out one.
Jordan (1-0) allowed three unearned runs on seven hits while striking out eight.
