TIGERVILLE, S.C. – The Lander baseball team split a non-conference doubleheader at North Greenville University Saturday afternoon, winning the first game, 8-2, and dropping the second, 6-5. The second game was called due to darkness in the sixth inning.
Lander improves to 7-5 overall, while North Greenville moves to 5-6.
In the first game, Chris Thomas (1-1) earned the win, striking out three, walking one and allowing two hits and no earned runs in five innings pitched.
North Greenville's Derek Fulmer (0-1) took the loss, with three earned runs on one hit.
For Lander, Marshall Creed went 2-for-4 with one homer, two runs scored and one RBI, while Jeff May went 3-for-3 with one homer and three RBI. AJ Nunziato was 3-for-4 with one run and two RBI.
For North Greenville, David Frazier went 2-for-2 with one triple and one run scored.
Lander scored three runs in the first inning when Creed and Robert Skinner scored on back-to-back bases loaded walks and Jordan Owens scored on a balk.
North Greenville trimmed the margin to 3-1 in the third inning on Brian Giles' RBI single.
Lander answered in the fourth inning with Creed's solo home run to make it 4-1.
The Bearcats stretched the lead to 7-1 in the sixth. Nunziato, Eric Lunde and May had RBI singles that plated Skinner, Owens and Nunziato.
Lander made it 8-0 in the eighth on May's solo homer.
North Greenville scored its final run in the ninth when William Gladden scored on an error.
In the second game, Scott Elitzky took the loss, with three strikeouts, one walk and four eanred runs on seven hits in four innings pitched.
North Greenville's Caleb Phillips (1-0) earned the win with one strikeout, two walks and three earned runs on seven hits in four innings pitched.
The Crusaders took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Tyler Callicutt's two-RBI double. Lander bounced back in the third to tie the score at 2-2 when Alan Abreu scored on an error and Owens' sacrifice fly plated Creed.
Lander took a 5-2 lead in the fourth when Lunde scored on a bases-loaded walk and Skinner's RBI single plated Ryan McNulty and Cody McElhaney.
The Crusaders scored four, fifth-inning runs, which proved to win the game. Foulks' RBI single plated Giles, Adam Taylor stroked a two-run homer and Daniel York scored on a Lander error.
For Lander, Lunde went 2-for-2.
For North Greenville, Taylor batted 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Calicutt (1-for-2, two RBI) and Anthony Foulk (1-for-4, one run, one RBI) both doubled.
