GREENWOOD – Lander got stellar pitching from Cory Hopper, Chris Thomas and Ross Davis while Jeff May and Cody McElhaney were among the hitting heroes as the Bearcats pulled off a Peach Belt Conference double-header sweep over No. 3 UNC Pembroke, 5-3 and 2-1, Saturday afternoon at Legion Field.
Lander improved to 11-8 overall and 2-0 in the Peach Belt. The Braves fell to 15-3, 0-2.
The teams are scheduled to play the final game of their series Sunday at 1 o'clock.
Hopper tossed a complete game three-hitter in Game 1, while Thomas had a solid outing in the second game, with Davis finishing up with brilliant three-inning, one-hit shutout relief, retiring six of his nine outs on strikeouts.
The second game was tied at 1 entering the bottom of the sixth when McElhaney led off with his first homer of the season, a blast over the fence in left center.
With the 2-1 lead, Davis took over for Thomas in the top of the seventh and shut Pembroke down for his first save of the season. Thomas (3-1) was the winning pitcher, allowing one run on six hits while walking three and fanning two in six innings of work.
Pembroke reliever Brian Willis, who allowed McElhaney's home run, took the loss, falling to 0-2.
The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of Game 2 when Brad Bridgeman singled and advanced to second on an error in right field, stopped at third on a passed ball, and scored on Chase Grissom's sacrifice fly to center.
Pembroke preserved the lead in the third when Marshall Creed was hit by a pitch, stopped at third on AJ Nunziato's double, but was thrown out at the plate by Braves right fielder Bridgeman after catching a foul fly ball off the bat of Jordan Owens.
Lander tied it in the fifth with a similar rally as Creed led off with a single and stopped at third on Nunziato's double. This time, Creed came home on a single by Owens. But Willis induced Robert Skinner to hit into an inning-ending double play before giving up what proved to be the winning run in the sixth.
The leading hitters for the Bearcats in the second game were Nunziato, 2-for-2 with two doubles; and Owens, 2-for-4 with one RBI.
Josh Haley was Pembroke's leading hitter, going 2-for-4.
Owens and May were each 4-for-7 in the double-header for Lander. Haley had three hits in the two games for the Braves.
Lander took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning of the opener when McElhaney singled, moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt, and scored on May's sinking liner to left center.
The Bearcats built their lead to 4-0 in the third when Erik Lunde walked, Nunziato singled and stole second, Skinner hit a two-run single to right, followed by an RBI double to deep center by Owens.
Pembroke got on the scoreboard in the fifth when Aaron Parnell reached on a three-base error and scored on Bridgeman's sacrifice fly.
The Braves broke up Hopper's no-hit bid in the sixth when J.J. Williams laid down a leadoff bunt single in front of the plate. Williams moved to third on Haley's double and scored on Jason Coker's sacrifice fly. Haley scored on an error to pull Pembroke within 4-3. But Hopper got Keith Whitman to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Lander increased its lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth when Kevin Childs hit a leadoff double into the right-field corner and May hit an RBI double into the same corner, scoring pinch runner Alan Abreu.
Hopper (4-0) made the lead stand up, going the distance, retiring the last 10 batters that he faced. He allowed three runs on three hits, all in the sixth inning while striking out eight and walking one.
Tyler Wood (3-1) suffered his first loss for Pembroke, allowing five runs on nine hits in five innings.
May was the Bearcats' leading hitter in Game 1, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI, Owens went 2-for-3 with a double, RBI, and stolen base; and Skinner was 1-for-4 with two RBI.
Haley was Pembroke's leading hitter, going 1-for-4 with a double and run scored.
