BELMONT, N.C. – The Lander baseball team held a 2-1 lead over No. 7 Belmont Abbey entering the fifth inning on Tuesday night, but the Crusaders scored six runs in the bottom of the fifth to claim a 7-2 win in a mid-week contest. 

Lander (10-19) trailed 1-0 after an inning, but took the lead as Zack Moore led off the top of the second with a double and scored when Conner Davis' sacrifice bunt was thrown away at first base. After Davis advanced to third, Colton Yeager put the Bearcats on top with a two-out RBI single.

Belmont Abbey (27-5), which had not trailed after four innings in nine games, took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth, opening the frame with a solo home run and putting its first four runners on base. The Crusaders used an RBI double, a pair of RBI groundouts and two Bearcat errors to hep push across six runs. 

Sam Luchansky (6-0) earned the win for Belmont Abbey, tossing 4.1 innings of scoreless relief. Ryan Troutman (1-1) took the loss for Lander, surrendering three earned runs on four hits in 0.2 innings. 

Lander returns to Dolny Stadium on Friday to host Augusta at 6:00 p.m.