GREENWOOD – The Lander Bearcats scored three runs on wild pitches in the bottom of the eighth inning, pulling out Game 2 of a Peach Belt Conference baseball double-header 7-5 over No. 29 ranked Augusta State Saturday afternoon at Legion Field. The Jaguars scored a run in the 10th to win the opener, 2-1. (Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box)
Lander won the three-game series two games to one and is 14-15 overall, 6-6 in the Peach Belt. Augusta State is 19-14, 5-7.
The Bearcats trailed 5-4 going into the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 2 before rallying on a pair of hits, a walk, and four wild pitches. With one out, TJ Guinan and Brooks Arnette singled against Jaguars reliever Chris Tyler. Kyle Payne relieved Tyler and threw a wild pitch. With both runners going on the pitch, they each moved up two bases with Guinan scoring the tying run. Another wild pitch scored Arnette with the go-ahead run as Payne wound up walking AJ Nunziato.
Jacob Watson relieved Payne and threw another wild pitch with Nunziato advancing from first to third. With two outs, Watson threw a wild pitch on ball four to pinch hitter Josh Lovvorn, scoring Nunziato.
Lander's Tim Rau (2-3) retired Augusta State in the ninth to earn the victory. Tyler (1-3) took the loss.
The Jaguars had taken a 2-0 lead in the second on Jorge Virguez's RBI double and Michael Fritz's run-scoring single. They were the first two earned runs that the Bearcat pitching staff had allowed in the series after Daniel Hinchberger's one-hit shutout in Friday's opener and Augusta's two unearned runs in Game 1.
Nunziato homered over the left field fence in the second to pull the Bearcats within 2-1.
Lander grabbed a 4-2 lead in the fourth when Arnette singled, stole second and scored on Nunziato's single. Justin King followed with a two-run homer over the center field fence. It was King's first homer of the season.
Virguez hit his first homer of the season, pulling Augusta within 4-3 in the sixth. The Jaguars took a 5-4 lead in the seventh after Kevin Owens led off with a walk and Shannon Wilkerson singled. They moved up a base on Logan Dempsey's deep fly out and scored on Bryson Smith's infield single into the hole between short and third. But the Augusta bullpen couldn't hold on to the lead.
Leading hitters for the Bearcats in Game 2 were Gabe McCann, Arnette and Nunziato with two hits apiece while King was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer. Fritz was Augusta's leading hitter, going 3-for-5 with an RBI. Virguez, Dempsey and Smith had two hits apiece with Virguez collecting a homer, two runs, and two RBI.
In the first game, the Bearcats took a 1-0 lead in the third when Nate Mangiapane singled, moved to third on Chris Duncan's single and scored on a wild pitch. Augusta tied it in the fourth with the help of two Lander errors.
Both teams had scoring chances through the rest of the game. But the Bearcats turned three double plays to escape several threats, while Augusta center fielder Alex Walker made a nice running catch on Guinan's deep line drive to save two runs in the eighth. Lander had two runners on in the bottom ninth but failed to score.
Augusta pushed across the winning run in the top of the 10th when Owens reached on an error, moved to third on Wilkerson's single, and scored when Smith reached on a fielder's choice. Owens slid home safely ahead of the tag.
Both starting pitchers threw well. Lander's Jake Hover allowed only one unearned run on five hits in nine innings, striking out seven and walking five. Jaguars starter Adam Mathis gave up one run on seven hits in eight innings of work, fanning 10 and walking only one. Augusta's Watson (4-1) pitched two scoreless innings for the win while Rau worked the 10th and took the loss as he wound up with the decision in both games of the double-header.
Leading hitters in Game 1 for the Bearcats were Malcolm McLeod and Robert Skinner, who were 2-for-5. Tony Baker was 2-for-4 for the Jaguars.
