WINGATE, N.C. - The Lander baseball team used a five-run, fourth inning Tuesday afternoon to pull away from Wingate University and post a 9-5 non-conference victory at Ron Christopher Field.

Lander improves to 23-17, while Wingate drops to 27-20.

The Bearcats' Darrin Tew (3-1) earned the win after striking out seven and allowing four earned runs on 10 hits in 6.1 innings pitched.

Wingate's Greysor Davis (1-1) suffered the loss after striking out four, walking two and allowing eight earned runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings pitched.

Lander took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Robert Skinner doubled, advanced to third on AJ Nunziato's groundout and scored on Kevin Childs' RBI single to left field.

Wingate tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning after Brian Yeung scored on James Tedder's sacrifice fly.

The Bearcats went up 3-1 in the third inning when Jeff May's double to left center plated Erik Lunde and Skinner.

Lander added five more runs in the fourth to go up 8-1 on Lunde's RBI single that scored Adam Davey, Nunziato's single that sent Lunde and Skinner home and May's RBI double that pushed Childs and Nunziato across the plate.

The Bulldogs cut the lead to 8-2 in the sixth inning when Yeung scored on a Lander throwing error.

Grady's sacrifice fly in the seventh scored May to up Lander's lead to 9-2.

Wingate came back with three runs in the seventh to cut the Lander advantage to 9-5. Dodson McPherson's RBI double scored Jason Hunter, then Yeung and Casey Allison both had run-scoring singles.

For Lander, Lunde and May both went 3-for-4, while Skinner was 2-for-3 and Jacob Tisdale 2-for-5.

For Wingate, Shelton batted 3-for-5, while Hunter was 2-for-3, McPherson was 2-for-4 and Yeung and Allison 2-for-5.

The Bearcats will host Tusculum at 4 p.m., Wednesday, in a non-conference game at Legion Field.