WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The No. 2-ranked Lander baseball team increased in single-season wins record to 44 Wednesday night when the Bearcats downed Winston-Salem State University, 9-3, in their regular-season finale at BB&T Ballpark.

Lander, which added the game against the Rams to their schedule earlier in the week, improve to 44-6 overall, while Winston-Salem drops to 35-16. The Bearcats are the top seed in this weekend's Peach Belt Conference Tournament at USC Aiken and open play at 10 a.m., Saturday, against eighth-seeded Francis Marion.

Dylan Wolchik improved his record to 10-1 overall, striking out 10, walking two and allowing three earned runs on three hits in six innings.

Jordan Carlton (6-3) suffered the loss for the Rams after striking out four, walking three and allowing one earned run on three hits in four innings pitched.

The Bearcats took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a two-run homer by Chris Hyatt, but the Rams came back in the bottom of the inning and knotted the game at 2-2 on an RBI double by Alex Grubb and a run-scoring single by Levi Grassley.

The Bearcats manufactured five runs in the fifth to take a 7-2 advantage. Connor Lewis doubled in Patrick Grady, Weston Lawing drove in Lewis, Graham Ramos' RBI triple plated Lawing and Thomas Berry, and Colby Painter's single sent Ramos home. With the RBI, Lewis tied his own single-season school record of 60.

After Winston-Salem cut the margin to 7-3 in the fifth on Gavin Culler's RBI single, the Bearcats added one run each in the eighth and ninth innings. Erik Lunde's RBI single scored Thomas Bess in the eighth and Ramos smacked a leadoff homer in the ninth.

For Lander, Lewis, Lawing, Ramos and Bess had two hits apiece.