GREENWOOD – Brandon Farquhar struck out 10 and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, while Jeff May and Cody McAlhaney combined for five RBI, leading the Lander Bearcats to a 6-0 Peach Belt Conference victory over North Georgia College & State University Saturday afternoon at Legion Field.
Lander avoided a three-game sweep, improving to 16-14 overall and 6-5 in the Peach Belt. North Georgia, which swept a double-header from the Bearcats on Friday, fell to 19-11 and 6-9.
Farquhar (3-1) was the winning pitcher, allowing only three hits in 7.2 innings of work. He struck out 10 and walked four.
Michael White finished the combined shutout, allowing one hit in 1.1 innings. Lander right fielder Patrick Grady made a diving catch with two on and two out in the ninth to close out the win.
Saints starting pitcher Wes Coberly (2-2) took the loss, allowing four runs, three earned runs, in three innings. Michael Patton and Matt Smith pitched the rest of the game for North Georgia.
May was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI for Lander, while McAlhaney went 2-for-5 with a double, two runs and two RBI.
Also for the Bearcats, Erik Lunde was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, Alan Abreu went 2-for-4 and Robert Skinner was 2-for-5.
Brad Hall was 2-for-4 for the Saints, who had only four hits.
Lander took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. McAlhaney led off with a single up the middle and scored on May's double to deep left center. May moved to third on Abreu's single and scored on AJ Nunziato's ground out to second.
The Bearcats doubled their lead to 4-0 in the third. Lunde singled, Jordan Owens walked, McAlhaney reached on an error to drive in one run, and May's ground out to short scored the other run.
Lander scored twice more in the sixth with Lunde once again starting the rally with a single and scoring on McAlhaney's double into the left-field corner. May singled up the middle, scoring McAlhaney.
Brent Nelson broke up Farquhar's no-hitter with a single to lead off the sixth, and Derek Hooper added a two-out single, but Farquhar got out of the inning with his shutout intact. White replaced Farquhar with two outs in the seventh.
