SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Lander baseball team fell below the .500 mark Saturday afternoon when the Bearcats dropped a Peach Belt Conference doubleheader against No. 18 Armstrong State at Pirate Field. Armstrong won the first game, 10-6, then took the second, 2-1.

Armstrong improves to 15-3 overall and 8-2 in the PBC, while Lander slips to 9-10, 3-8. The two teams will close out the PBC series with a single game at 1 p.m., Sunday.

In the first game, Armstrong's Corey Kafka (4-1) earned the win, striking out six, walking one and allowing three earned runs on four hits in 5.1 innings.

Lander's Brandon White (2-1) took the loss after striking out two, walking two and allowing six earned runs on eight hits in three innings.

The Bearcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Thomas Berry's RBI single that drove in Aaron Poole.

Armstrong tied it at 1-all in the bottom of the inning on JT Phillips' RBI single, then went up 4-1 in the second on Cody Sherlin's two-RBI triple and a throwing error.

The Pirates added two more runs in the third to make it 6-1 when Will Austin and Ryan Patterson both scored on a throwing error.

Armstrong stretched its lead to 8-1 in the fourth on Zach Lance's two-RBI single.

Lander cut the lead to 8-3 in the sixth on Berry's two-run homer over the right centerfield fence, but the Pirates answered with another run in the bottom of the inning when Matt Wisniewski drove in Phillips.

The Bearcats scored its final two runs in the eighth when Zach Giczewski advanced home on Chris Hyatt's RBI groundout and Matt White drove in Colby Lusignan.

For Lander, Berry batted 3-for-5, while Poole and Giczewski and had two hits apiece.

In the second game, Armstrong's Pete Nagel (2-0) earned the win, striking out 10, walking four and allowing one earned run on two hits in seven innings.

Lander's Kyle Boraski (2-2) was tagged with the loss after striking out one, walking one and allowing two earned runs on seven hits in five innings of work.

The Pirates went up 1-0 in the second inning on Will Austin's RBI single, then extended the margin to 2-0 in the third when Phillips drove in Cody Sherlin.

The Bearcats lone score came in the sixth when Weston Lawing advanced home on a wild pitch.