GREENWOOD - Down 10-8 in the bottom of the ninth the Lander baseball team came back to defeat No. 20 Columbus State off a walk-off two-run single from redshirt sophomore Justin Wager.

Lander moves to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the PBC while Columbus State drops to 3-2 overall and in conference.

The bats were on fire for the Bearcats, with 15 hits on the day. Of those 15 hits, six of them were doubles and one cleared the yard.

After a scoreless first for both sides, each team put tallies up on the board in the second. Down 2-0 in the bottom of the second, Lander brought home their first run of the game on a redshirt junior Bradley Davis grounder to second that saw junior Bo Richey come around from third to make it a 2-1 game.

The third inning saw home runs from each side. Columbus State sent a pair of home runs to left and right field while redshirt junior Evan Harold got a hold of a pitch and sent it over the right-field fence to score sophomore Landon Dupert and himself making it 4-3 with the Cougars still in the lead.

Both sides would take a break in the fourth and fifth innings before picking back up in the sixth. After a lone run came around for the Cougars in the top of the sixth, Lander saw a sharply hit ball up the middle from junior Walker McDowell to score junior Mason Streater to keep it a one-run ball game.

Moving to the seventh, things would get out of hand for the Bearcats. Five runs would come to score for the Cougars to increase their lead to 10-4 going to the bottom of the inning.

Not giving up on the game, the Blue and Gold struck back after senior Ward Betts slapped a double into right field to score grad student Mike Fitschen to make it a 10-5 game.

A three-up three-down top of the eighth was followed up by three more runs coming across for the Bearcats in the bottom of the inning. With two outs and two runners aboard, senior Roury Glanton doubled down the right-field line to score McDowell and Streater to put lander three back of the Cougars. Fitschen traded places with Glanton after sending a hard-hit ball down the right-field line as well for an RBI double to make it 10-8.

A scoreless top of the ninth kept it a 10-8 ball game. Lander immediately got a runner in scoring position after Harold doubled down the left-field line to begin the inning. Betts walked soon after to put runners on first and second before a strikeout gave Columbus State their first out of the inning. Things began to heat up with yet another Bearcat double, this time from Streater to right field to score Harold and put Betts on third and make it a 10-9 game.

Coming into pinch-hit, Wager got a hold of a pitch that went screaming up the middle and ricocheted off second base into the outfield to give Lander the 11-10 victory.

Redshirt junior Davis Cunningham earned his first win of the season after dealing a pair of scoreless innings to conclude the game. He allowed just one hit and struck out two Cougars.

The Bearcats begin a month-long stretch of road games with a three-game series at Flagler between March 6 and 7.

#cLawsUp | @LanderBaseball