SAVANNAH, Ga. – The No. 16 Armstrong Atlantic State University baseball team completed its three-game Peach Belt Conference sweep against Lander Sunday afternoon when the Pirates defeated the No. 15 Bearcats, 10-4 and 2-1, at Pirate Field.
Lander moves to 15-12 overall and 5-3 in the PBC, while Armstrong State is 21-4, 5-1. The Pirates defeated Lander, 8-7, in the Saturday's series opener.
In the first game, AASU's Chandler Hall (5-1) earned the win after striking out five, walking six and allowing three earned runs on four hits in seven innings pitched.
Lander's Chris Thomas (4-2) took the loss, striking out four, walking two and allowing five earned runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings pitched.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning on John Roberts' RBI single, Armstrong Atlantic stretched the lead to 5-0 in the fourth. Chris Zittrouer's sacrifice bunt plated Mike Barnhill and Josh Purvis, then Roberts' RBI single scored Zittrouer and Alex Frederick.
The Pirates added four more runs in the sixth to go up 9-0. Price's sacrifice fly pushed Barnhill across the plate, Zittrouer scored on Barnhill's single and Clayton Miller's triple plated Drew Walker and Roberts.
The Bearcats trimmed the AASU lead to 9-3 in the seventh when Adam Davey scored on Marshall Creed's sacrifice fly and AJ Nunziato's RBI single to left center allowed Joe Tebaldi and Alan Abreu to score.
AASU added one more run in the eighth as Frederick scored on bases-loaded walk, while Lander's final run came in the ninth after Tebaldi scored on Robert Skinner's RBI single.
For Lander, Jeff May batted 1-for-3 with one double, while Nunziato went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Tebaldi 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
For the Pirates, Miller went 2-for-5 with one triple and two RBI, while Roberts (4-for-5, one run, four RBI) and Zittrouer (1-for-2, two runs, one RBI) both doubled.
In the second game, Travis Morris (2-0) earned the win for AASU in relief as he struck out three, walked one and allowed no runs in two hitless innings.
The Bearcats' Brandon Farquhar (2-1) took the loss after striking out four, walking two and allowing two earned runs on seven hits in the complete eight innings.
AASU took a 1-0 lead in the first after Roberts' RBI groundout scored Frederick.
Lander tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth when Kevin Childs' RBI single to left field plated Jordan Owens.
The Pirates scored what proved to be the winning run in the eighth when Walker's RBI single scored Josh Heath.
For Lander, Skinner went 2-for-3.
