GREENWOOD – Lander's Daniel Hinchberger pitched a two-hit shutout and teammate Derek Wilson earned his first victory of the season, leading the Bearcats to a non-conference baseball double-header sweep over Barton College, 15-2 and 5-0, Saturday afternoon at Legion Field. (Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box )
Lander improved to 13-24 on the season while the Bulldogs fell to 17-26. Barton has now lost nine games in a row and was held to just five hits in the two games. The teams will play again on Sunday at 1:30 at Legion Field. Just last weekend, Barton College won the NCAA Division II national championship in basketball.
The Bearcats won the opener behind Wilson and a 19-hit attack, including four hits apiece by Jesse Barbaro and Malcolm McLeod. Hinchberger dominated the second game and got all the runs he would need in the fourth.
Jonathan Myers started the rally when he was hit by a pitch. Gabe McCann and Barbaro followed with sacrifice bunt attempts that turned into singles, loading the bases. McLeod delivered a two-run single, Eric Barrett bunted two runners over, and TJ Guinan hit a two-run double to center.
Myers was hit by a pitch again to lead off the fifth, stole second, moved to third on McCann's fly out and scored on Barbaro's single through a drawn-in infield to make it 5-0.
Hinchberger (5-4) allowed only a first-inning single to Jonathan Nichols and a seventh-inning single to Brett Norris. He struck out five and walked three. It was Hinchberger's third complete game of the season and the first shutout of his Lander career.
Brandon Brinson (4-3) took the loss for Barton.
Leading hitters in Game 2 for the Bearcats were Barbaro, 2-for-3 with an RBI; and Guinan, 1-for-3, two RBI.
Lander got off to a fast start in Game 1, scoring four times in first. Barrett and Hunter Ruoss hit RBI singles, Guinan stole home, and another run scored on an errant throw by the catcher.
The Bearcats knocked Barton starting pitcher Kelly Stracke out of the game in the second inning with three more runs, including a two-run single by Barbaro.
Lander increased its lead to 8-1 in the fifth when Jared Altus hit a leadoff double into the left field corner and scored on Myers' double to center.
The Bearcats scored three more runs in the sixth, making it 11-1. Barrett was hit by a pitch, stopped at third on Guinan's double to left and scored on Ruoss's sacrifice fly to deep left. Altus and Myers added RBI doubles.
Lander scored twice more in the seventh on McLeod's RBI double and Barrett's run-scoring single.
Leading the way in the 19-hit Bearcat attack were Barbaro, 4-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI; McLeod, 4-for-5, two runs, RBI; Myers, 2-for-5, two RBI; Altus, 2-for-5, two doubles, two runs scored, one RBI; Barrett, 2-for-4, two runs, two RBI; and Ruoss, 1-for-3, two RBI. Barbaro had six hits in the two games.
The Bulldogs only had three hits by Ryan McCleney, Zach Boyette, and Kevin Brosseau. McCleney's hit was a double and would be Barton's only extra-base hit of the afternoon.
Wilson (1-8) survived a shaky first inning, cruising to the victory. He allowed one unearned run on three hits while walking four and striking out five in six innings of work. Evan Christian and Andy Quick each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for Lander while Casey Pippen allowed one run in the ninth. Stracke (2-3) took the loss for the Bulldogs.
