GREENWOOD - The Anderson University baseball team exploded for nine runs in the fifth inning Wednesday night and held on to upset nationally ranked Lander, 9-7, in a non-conference game at Dolny Stadium.

Anderson improves to 18-24 on the season, while Lander, which is nationally ranked No. 10 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and No. 11 by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, falls to 32-11. With a run scored in the game, the Bearcats set an NCAA Division II national record of 264 consecutive games of scoring at least one run, breaking the record set by Central Missouri in 1996.

The Trojans' Thomas Smith (3-4) was awarded the win after striking out two, walking one and allowing three earned runs on four hits in two innings.

Lander's Matt Thorpe (0-1) was tagged with the loss after walking two and allowing four earned runs in one-third of an inning.

Anderson took advantage of seven walked runners in the fifth inning to take a 9-5 lead. Matthew Powell and Travis Smith drove in two runs each; Garrett Bernardo and Xavier Peralta had RBI singles; while Peralta, Kyle Bailey and Smith all scored on bases-loaded walks.

Taylor Kellner's two-run home run over the right field wall gave the Bearcats the early lead in the second inning. Lander stretched it to 5-0 in the fourth on Reed Gray's RBI single that plated Kellner, and Matt White's two-RBI single that drove in Gray and Mason Dodd.

After the Trojans took the lead in the fifth, Lander cut it to 9-6 in the sixth on White's RBI single that plated Gray. Lander's final run came in the seventh on Thomas Berry's solo home run over the right field wall.

For Lander, Kellner Batted 3-for-5, while White and Reed Gray had two hits apiece.

For Anderson, Powell went 2-for-3.