SAVANNAH, Ga. - The No. 16-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State University baseball team rallied for five ninth-inning runs Saturday afternoon to edge No. 15 Lander, 8-7, in a Peach Belt Conference game at Pirate Field.
Armstrong Atlantic improves to 19-4 overall and 3-1 in the PBC, while Lander, which suffered its first PBC loss of the season, is 15-10 and 5-1.
The two teams will complete the three-game series with a Sunday doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.
Blake Culbson (1-0) earned the win for AASU after walking one and allowing one earned run on one hit in one inning pitched.
Lander's Jay Robinson (0-1) suffered the loss after striking out two and allowing five earned runs on five hits in 1.1 innings pitched. Lander starter Cory Hopper struck out two, walked two and allowed just one earned run on seven hits in 7.1 innings pitched.
Trailing 7-3 going into the ninth, Josh Heath's RBI single coupled with a Bearcat error drove in Chris Zittrouer and Josh Purvis, Alex Frederick's RBI single plated Heath, John Roberts' RBI single scored Frederick and Drew Walker's winning RBI single sent Michael Price across the plate.
The Bearcats broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning when Jordan Owens led off with a double down the left field line and later scored on an Armstrong Atlantic throwing error. Adam Davey soon followed Owens across home plate on Cody McElhaney's sacrifice fly.
Lander added two insurance runs in the ninth to stretch the score to 7-3 on Patrick Grady's two-RBI double that scored Owens and Erik Lunde.
Lander exploded for three runs in the first inning after Owens' RBI double to right field scored AJ Nunziato (single), then Jeff May's two-RBI single plated Owens and Robert Skinner.
Armstrong Atlantic cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the inning when Frederick doubled and later scored on a Lander fielding error.
The Pirates then tied the game at 3-3 in the third on Roberts solo home run, followed by Walker's unusual score when he walk to first, advanced to second on a balk, third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.
For Lander, Owens batted 2-for-2, with two doubles, three runs and one RBI, while Grady went 1-for-1 with one double and two RBI.
For AASU, Roberts batted 2-for-5 with one homer, one run and two RBI, Frederick went 2-for-5 with one double, two runs and one RBI, and Michael Price, Josh Purvis Chris Zittrouer and Clayton Miller were all 2-for-4.
