GREENWOOD – Lander won a slugfest and Armstrong Atlantic was victorious in a pitcher's duel as the teams split a Peach Belt Conference baseball double-header Sunday afternoon at Legion Field. (Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box)
The Bearcats (11-22, 4-14 Peach Belt) won the opener, 12-9, with Malcolm McLeod going 5-for-5 and Brendan O'Connor finishing 4-for-5 with four RBI.
Armstrong (21-10, 5-7) won the second game, 1-0, behind the pitching of Vyt Rivers and Truman Marek.
The nightcap was a pitcher's duel between Rivers (4-2) and Lander's Daniel Hinchberger (4-4). The Pirates took a 1-0 lead in the sixth when Sean Hotzak walked and scored on Josh Wilson's one-out triple to deep right center. Hinchberger walked the next batter but retired the next two to prevent further damage.
Hinchberger escaped another jam in the seventh after Armstrong opened the inning with singles by Brad Bohannon and Tyler Evans, and Marek's sacrifice bunt. Hinchberger struck out the final two batters. The tall right-hander gave up just the one run on six hits while walking four and striking out eight.
Rivers was just a little better, allowing only two hits while walking two and also striking out eight in six scoreless innings. Marek came in from his right-field position to pitch the seventh and earn his first save of the year.
Bohannon was the only batter in Game 2 to have multiple hits, going 2-for-4. Lander was held to three singles by Gabe McCann, TJ Guinan and Jared Altus.
The Bearcats rode two big innings to their Game 1 victory. Trailing 3-1 going into the bottom of the second, Lander erupted for seven runs. Altus and O'Connor got the rally started with singles, and McCann, Jesse Barbaro, McLeod, Hunter Ruoss and Eric Barrett all had RBI singles for an 8-3 lead.
The lead shrunk to 8-7 in the fifth. But Lander scored once in the seventh and three big insurance runs in the eighth. O'Connor singled, Jonathan Myers doubled, and McCann hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh. McLeod started the eighth inning rally with his fifth hit of the game, a double off the left-field fence. He moved to third on Guinan's single and scored on Barrett's sacrifice fly. O'Connor followed with a two-run double to make it 12-7.
Armstrong's Marek hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth for the game's final runs.
The Pirates scored three runs in the first and fifth innings. Evans, Cail and Hotzak drove in runs in the first and Hotzak hit a two-run double in the fifth. Lander scored its first run in the opening inning when Myers walked, stole second and scored on McLeod's single.
Leading hitters in Game 1 for Lander were McLeod, 5-for-5, two RBI, two runs; O'Connor, 4-for-5, four RBI, two runs; McCann, 2-for-5, two RBI, two runs; Altus, 2-for-5, two runs; and Barrett, 1-for-3, two RBI.
Hotzak paced the Pirates in the opener, going 3-for-4 with three RBI. Marek went 3-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored, Evans was 2-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Bohannon went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Evan Christian (1-1) was the winning pitcher for the Bearcats, pitching the final 4 2/3 innings of relief of William Dudley. Jeff Chase (3-3) took the loss.
