JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The second-ranked Lander Bearcats are off to their best start in baseball program history after beating Carson-Newman 11-5 Wednesday afternoon behind the pitching of Brandon Miller and the offense of Jordan Owens, Weston Lawing and Colby Painter. It was their eighth consecutive victory.
Lander improved to 22-6 with the non-conference win while the Eagles fell to 17-15.
After a 3-4 start that included a 10-inning loss to Carson-Newman at home Feb. 6, the Bearcats have since won 19 of their last 22 games.
Lander pitcher Brandon Miller posted nine strikeouts, improving his record to 5-0. He allowed two runs and only three hits in six innings of work. The Greenwood native walked five and hit one batter.
After Bearcats reliever Jeremy Jansen allowed three runs on six hits in two innings, Ben Runyon pitched a perfect ninth, striking out the side. With Jansen also fanning two, Lander pitchers struck out 14 in the game.
Painter, a freshman, hit his first collegiate homer. Owens and Lawing had three RBI apiece for the Bearcats. Owens has driven in eight runs in his last two games, reaching 30 RBI for the season.
Lander debuted at No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Division II poll this week and their start surpassed the 2004 team as the best in program history.
The Bearcats grabbed a 2-0 lead with a two-out rally in the top of the second. Lawing singled, Jeff May doubled, and Juan Montana smacked a two-run single to center.
Miller struggled for one inning, walking the bases loaded in the fourth and then hitting a batter to force home Carson-Newman's first run.
Lander blew the game open with four runs in each the sixth and seventh innings.
In the sixth, Erik Lunde walked, Patrick Grady was hit by a pitch, and Kevin Starr walked to load the bases. Owens hit a two-run double to right-center, Lawing hit a sacrifice fly to right, and Owens scored on a passed ball to increase the Bearcat lead to 6-1.
After Carson-Newman scored a run in the bottom of the sixth on Zawadzki's RBI double, Lander increased its lead to 10-2 in the seventh.
Painter singled, Lunde was hit by a pitch, and Grady walked to load the bases with two out. Starr walked to force home a run, Owens was hit by a pitch to force home another run, and Lawing smacked a two-run single up the middle.
After Trace Rodgers singled home a run in the bottom of the seventh for the Eagles, Lander got that run back on Painter's homer to center.
Carson-Newman scored its final two runs in the eighth on Lance Reed's ground out and Bo Ausmus's RBI single to short.
Lawing and Painter had two hits apiece for the Bearcats while Grady, Starr and Painter each scored twice.
Cody Fox led the Eagles, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Evan Faithful, the first of nine Carson-Newman pitchers, took the loss.
