GREENWOOD – Brendan O'Connor's fifth hit of the game drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning, lifting the Lander Bearcats to a 12-11 non-conference baseball victory over Barton College Sunday afternoon at Legion Field.
Lander swept the three-game weekend series and improved to 14-24. The Bulldogs fell to 17-27 with their 10th consecutive loss. The Bearcats were victorious despite trailing 6-1 and committing eight errors on a rainy afternoon.
Eric Barrett led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk, Hunter Ruoss hit a one-out single up the middle, Jared Altus walked to load the bases, and O'Connor ripped the ball into the gap in right-center field for the game-winner.
Evan Christian (2-1) was the winning pitcher for Lander, tossing the final two-plus innings. David King (0-1) took the loss for Barton after allowing three base runners in the 10th. O'Connor's winning hit came off Brandon Sneed.
O'Connor finished 5-for-6 with two runs scored and two RBI. Jesse Barbaro was also 5-for-6 with three runs scored and three RBI. Gabe McCann, Malcolm McLeod, Barrett and Ruoss had two hits apiece.
Barbaro finished the series with 11 hits in 14 at-bats, scored seven runs, and had seven RBI.
After being limited to five hits in Saturday's double-header loss, Barton drilled 13 hits Sunday. Travis Holloman led the Bulldogs attack, going 2-for-6 with a homer, three runs scored and two RBI. Zach Boyette, Jonathan Nichols, Kevin Brosseau and Quinn Fuller had two hits apiece. Brosseau drove in three runs.
Barton took a 4-0 lead in the top of the third. Holloman led off with a homer over the left-field fence. Brosseau and Fuller had RBI singles and Mike Parker swiped home on the back end of a double steal.
The Bearcats pulled within 4-1 in the bottom of the third when Barbaro singled, stole second and scored on McLeod's single to right.
Brosseau hit a two-out, two-run single in the top of the fourth to extend Barton's lead to 6-1.
The Bearcats grabbed the lead with seven runs on seven hits in the fifth. O'Connor hit a leadoff double, stopped at third on Jonathan Myers' infield single, and scored on McCann's RBI double. Barbaro followed with a two-run double and McLeod hit an RBI double. TJ Guinan sacrificed runners to second and third, Ruoss had a run-scoring single, and O'Connor singled home a run for his second hit of the inning.
Lander pushed its lead to 10-6 in the sixth when Barbaro singled for his fourth hit of the game, moved to third when McLeod reached on an error and scored on Barrett's sacrifice fly. Guinan added an RBI double.
The Bulldogs rallied to tie the game with four runs in the top of the seventh, scoring on a passed ball and RBI singles by Will Johnson, Holloman and Nichols.
Barton grabbed an 11-10 lead in the top of the eighth with the help of three Lander infield errors.
The Bearcats had a promising rally in the bottom of the ninth but settled for the game-tying run. O'Connor singled up the middle, moved to second when Myers grounded out to the pitcher, and stopped at third when McCann beat out an infield single to first. Barbaro tied the game with his fifth hit, a single up the middle. But McLeod hit into an inning-ending double play. Although McLeod beat the throw to first, he was called out when Barbaro was called for runner's interference.
