GREENWOOD – AJ Nunziato unleashed his first grand slam and Sean Edenfield collected his first victory on the mound as the Lander baseball team defeated St. Andrews Presbyterian College, 10-2, Wednesday night in a non-conference game at Legion Field.
Lander improves to 18-22 overall, while St. Andrews drops to 13-32.
Edenfield (1-0) earned the win as he struck out three, walked three and allowed two earned runs on two hits in five innings pitched. Jay Guidry struck out four and walked two in three innings of relief.
SAPC's Alex Ridout (0-4) suffered the loss as he struck out one, walked five and allowed six earned runs on eight hits in six innings pitched.
Nunziato gave Lander a 1-0 lead in the second inning when he walked, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout, and scored on a throwing error by SAPC third baseman Kyle Norris.
The Bearcats exploded for six runs in the third inning highlighted by Nunziato's grand slam. Lander manufactured the other two runs when Robert Skinner scored on a bases-loaded walk and Alex Baur's RBI single plated Hunter Ruoss.
The Knights cut the lead to 7-2 in the fifth when Jeff Hayes hit a two-run homer over the left field fence.
The Bearcats added one run in the sixth as Justin King singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, to third on Ruoss' single, and scored on SAPC attempt to get Ruoss out at second on a steal attempt. Lander scored its final two runs in the seventh when Skinner scored on Malcolm McLeod's RBI single and TJ Guinan's sacrifice fly plated Brooks Arnette.
For Lander, Nunziato went 1-for-3 with four RBI, while Gabe McCann (2-for-6, one RBI) and Skinner (3-for-5, two runs scored) both doubled. McLeod and King both went 2-for-4.
For the Knights, Hayes went 1-for-4 with two RBI, and Jeremy Fisher went 2-for-3.