GREENWOOD – Richard Pirkle had six hits and Pete Paris drove in five runs, leading Georgia College & State University to a Peach Belt Conference baseball double-header sweep over the Lander Bearcats 11-5 and 9-6 Saturday at Legion Stadium. (Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box)
The Bobcats swept the three-game series, improving to 21-16 overall and 7-8 in the Peach Belt. Lander fell to 16-18, 6-9. The double-header started three hours late due to rain.
Lander took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of Game 1 when Malcolm McLeod walked, stole second, was bunted to third by Robert Skinner and scored on Gabe McCann's single.
The Bearcats upped their lead to 2-0 in the second when TJ Guinan singled, moved to second and third on wild pitches, and scored on AJ Nunziato's ground out.
Georgia College tied it with single runs in the third and fourth. In the third, Chandler Snell and Tommy Rice singled, and Brooks Robinson hit a sacrifice fly. In the fourth, Andrew Evans tripled and scored the tying run on Pirkle's single.
Lander regained a 3-2 lead in the fifth when Nunziato singled, moved up two bases on a pair of ground outs and scored on an error.
The Bobcats scored three unearned runs in the seventh to take a 5-3 lead. Snell doubled, Rice walked and both runners scored when Robinson reached third on Jake Hover's errant throw of a bunt. Paris's sacrifice fly scored Robinson.
The Bearcats pulled within 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh when Nunziato doubled, stole third and scored on Brian Bender's infield hit.
But Georgia College added five runs in the eighth, taking a 10-4 lead on Pirkle's RBI single, Benton Yaun's run-scoring double, Rice's sacrifice fly, and Paris's two-run double.
Lander made it 10-5 in the eighth on Guinan's run-scoring infield hit.
The Bobcats scored their 11th and final run in the ninth when Johns doubled and came home on Pirkle's single.
Pirkle was Georgia College's leading hitter in Game 1, going 4-for-5 with three RBI. Danny McCorkell, Paris, Snell, Rice and Johns had two hits apiece for the Bobcats with Paris collecting three RBI.
Guinan and Nunziato led Lander in the opener, each going 2-for-4.
Georgia College starting pitcher Shaun Monica (3-3) got the win while Hover (2-1) suffered the loss.
The Bobcats picked up where they left off in the opening inning of Game 2 when they took a 5-0 lead on Paris's RBI double, a two-run homer by Evans, Snell's RBI single, and an errant pickoff throw.
Lander scored twice in the bottom of the first on a walk, hit batsman and two errors and pulled within 5-3 in the second when Justin King singled, advanced to second on Hunter Ruoss's single, and scored on McCann's double.
Pirkle's RBI double in the third gave Georgia College a 6-3 lead. The Bearcats pulled within 6-4 in the bottom of the third when Brooks Arnette tripled to deep center and scored on Guinan's ground out.
Snell's two-out, bases-loaded single scored two, upping the Bobcat lead to 8-4 in the fifth.
Lander closed within 8-6 in the bottom of the fifth when Josh Lovvorn doubled and scored on a single by Arnette. King added a run-scoring double.
Paris hit a solo homer over the right-field fence in the sixth for a 9-6 lead. It was his second homer of the season.
But after eight turns at-bat with one of the team each scoring at least one run, no one scored after Paris's homer. Clete Jessup (3-1) got the win in relief for the Bobcats while Lander starter Derek Whaley (2-1) took the loss. Michael Newman earned his fifth save for the Bobcats. Justin Altman pitched four shutout innings for the Bearcats.
Leading hitters in Game 2 for Georgia College were Paris with three hits, a homer and two RBI; while Evans, Johns, Pirkle and Snell had two hits apiece. Snell had three RBI. Lovvorn, McCann, Arnette and King had two hits apiece for Lander while Guinan had two RBI.
