GREENWOOD – The Lander Bearcats blasted the first three home runs ever hit at the new Stephen B. Dolny Stadium Sunday afternoon, but it was a ground ball on the infield that produced their second consecutive extra-inning victory, 10-9, over Newberry College.
After no home runs were hit in the first two games at Dolny Stadium Friday or Saturday, Lander's Patrick Grady, AJ Nunziato and Weston Lawing homered in a span of just six at-bats Sunday between the fifth and sixth innings.
But Newberry rallied from an 8-3 deficit to force extra innings, and the Bearcats won in the 10th for the second straight day.
Erik Lunde led off the 10th with a double to the base of the fence in right center and moved to third on Thomas Berry's ground out to first. After Patrick Grady was intentionally walked, Jordan Owens hit a ground ball to Newberry third baseman Albert Baur who made a diving stop and threw to second for a force out. But the Wolves had no real shot at either a double play or a throw home, and Lunde trotted home with the game-winner.
Lander won the series, improving to 2-1. Newberry is 1-2.
Scott Elitzky (0-1) was the winning pitcher for the Bearcats while Tyler Sturkie took the loss.
Lunde was Lander's leading hitter, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored. Grady went 3-for-4 with a homer, two runs and three RBI. Owens was 2-for-6 with a double while having the game-winning RBI. Nunziato went 2-for-3 with a double, homer and two RBI.
Kevin Rufus had another big game for the Wolves, going 2-for-4 with a double, three runs scored and two RBI. Josh McElwee went 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored, Andy Vogel was 2-for-6 with three RBI, Matt Gaine went 2-for-4, and Zach Morgan was 2-for-5 with two runs scored.
The Wolves took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second when McElwee tripled into right center on a high fly ball that Lander center fielder Ian Harvey appeared to have lost in the sun, and Robbie Scaggs followed with an RBI single to right.
Newberry padded its lead to 3-0 in the third with the help of a pair of infield singles. Morgan hit a one-out single off the third baseman's glove and stopped at second on Rufus's bunt single up the third-base line. Camp singled to center, loading the bases. Vogel singled to left, driving home both Morgan and Rufus.
The Bearcats missed another scoring opportunity in the fourth when leadoff hitter Owens reached second on a throwing error by the third baseman. He moved to third on Harvey's fly ball to left center, but Wolves starting pitcher Will Robbins struck out the next two.
Lander broke through in the fifth after the first batters were out on just two pitches. Lunde walked, Berry was hit by a pitch, and Grady launched Dolny Stadium's first-ever home run over the left-field fence, a three-run blast to tie the game at 3.
The Bearcats took the lead in the sixth when Nunziato hit the stadium's second homer over the left-field fence off reliever Wade Ruff, and pinch hitter Lawing followed with a homer one out later near the left-field line.
Lander relievers Kyle Tate and Michael White each walked hitters in the seventh. But with runners on second and third with two outs, White struck out the final batter to end that threat.
The Bearcats added three runs in the seventh. Grady and Owens both singled to right, Harvey smacked an RBI single to right, Nunziato lofted a sacrifice fly to deep right, and Jeff May added a run-scoring single up the middle to make it 8-3.
But the Wolves tightened the game with four runs in the top of eighth, a rally started by McElwee's single, a walk to Scaggs, and Morgan's single to load the bases off Lander reliever White.
Rufus plated the first run with a bases-loaded walk, and after Bearcats reliever Ben Runyon entered the game and struck out Camp, Vogel hit an RBI single to deep short, Baur was hit by a pitch to score a run, and Hunter Cox plated another run with a walk to pull Newberry within 8-7.
Lander added a run in the bottom of the eighth when Lunde hit a leadoff single, moved to second on Berry's sacrifice bunt, stopped at third on Grady's single to right, and scored on a wild pitch.
Runyon struck out one and hit a batter to start the ninth and was relieved by Elitzky, who got the next batter out on a grounder to third. But Rufus doubled home pinch runner Alex Kirby and Wilbur Caldwell came off the bench and hit the first pitch to right for a game-tying single.
Nunziato led off the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff walk, moved to second on a wild pickoff attempt by the pitcher, and to third on May's ground out up the middle. But Newberry reliever Jeremy Long retired the next two batters, sending the game into extra innings.
Cory Hopper started the game on the mound for Lander, allowing three runs on seven hits in four innings of work, striking out three and walking one. Tate allowed two hits while walking two and striking out two in 2.1 innings. White allowed four runs on two hits in one inning, walking three and fanning one. Runyon gave up one run on one hit while striking out two and walking one in one inning. Elitzky gave up one run on three hits while striking out two in 1.2 innings.
Newberry starter Will Robbins allowed three runs on four hits in five innings of working, fanning four and walking one. Ruff, Cole Cromer, Evan Brown, Matt Chapman, Long and Sturkie finished up.
