GREENWOOD---The Lander baseball team notched its fourth straight victory Tuesday afternoon when the Bearcats defeated Limestone College, 11-5, in a non-conference game at Legion Field.
Lander improves to 15-24, while Limestone drops to 19-24.
Evan Christian (3-1) earned the victory as he struck out three and allowed one earned run on seven hits in six complete innings of work. Limestone's Kyle Matheney (0-2) suffered the loss as he allowed one run on one hit in one inning pitched.
The Bearcats took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Hunter Ruoss doubled to left field, advanced to third on a shortstop fielding error and scored as Limestone got Jared Altus out on a 1-3-6 pick off.
Lander extended the lead to 3-0 in the third inning. Brendan O'Connor walked, advanced to second on Gabe McCann's single to centerfield then scored on Jesse Barbaro's single to left. McCann then scored on Malcolm McLeod's groundout.
Limestone cut the lead to 3-1 in the fourth when Phillip Soden singled, advanced to second on Adam McSwain's fielder's choice then scored on Tyler's Midgett's RBI single to left field.
In the fourth, Lander stretched the margin to 5-1 as T.J. Guinan walked, advanced on a fielder's choice, and scored on McCann's RBI single to right field. O'Connor then scored on Barbaro's RBI single to center field.
The Saints' James Edwards hit a solo home run over the left field wall in the fifth inning to cut the Bearcats' lead to 5-2.
Lander added five more runs in the fifth to make it 10-2. Ruoss reached first when he was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on Altus' walk, and to third on a shortstop fielding error to load the bases. Ruoss scored on O'Connor's walk, Altus scored on a wild pitch, and Guinan and O'Connor crossed the plate on McCann's RBI triple to right field. McCann scored on Barbaro's RBI single to centerfield.
The Bearcats made it 11-2 in the seventh when O'Connor walked and scored on McLeod's RBI single.
Limestone plated one run in the eighth inning when Dylan Anthony singled to right center and scored on Daniel Lydon's RBI double to center field. The Saints scored its final two runs in the top of the ninth on Phillip Lydon's two-run double.
For Lander, McCann went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBI, Barbaro went 3-for-5 with three RBI, while Barrett and Ruoss both had two hits.
For Limestone, Lydon went 3-for-5 with three RBI, and Anthony and Cook both added two hits.
