ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The Lander baseball team went a perfect 3-for-3 at Claflin this weekend, defeating the Panthers 12-1 in game one, 13-3 in game two and 15-6 in game three.
Lander moves to 13-12 overall and 4-5 in the PBC while Claflin drops to 1-11 overall and 0-9 in the PBC.
Game one (12-1 Lander)
The Bearcats used two doubles and four home runs against the Panthers in game one to win in seven innings.
Landon Dupert, Chase Dougherty and Ethan Wilder all had multi-hit games while Dougherty led the way with three RBI coming on his second home run of the season.
Neither side was able to score for the first two innings, but that would change when the Bearcats put four runs up on the scoreboard in the third.
Wilder would start the inning off with a solo shot before Dupert would score Matthew Burgess on a double to center field to put Lander up 2-0. With two outs, Connor Droze belted a pitch out of the park to bring Lander ahead 4-0.
The Bearcats would score in every inning after the third as Wilder would single up the middle in the fourth to bring home Dougherty to move the score 5-0.
Dougherty would connect on his home run in the fifth to push Lander ahead 8-0.
In the sixth, a wild pitch would bring home Gary Garrett while Dupert would double to center field the next at-bat to score Burgess from third to give Lander a 10-0 edge. Claflin got its only run of the game in the bottom of the sixth on a solo shot to make it a 10-1 contest.
Garrett would finish the scoring in the top of the seventh with a two-run bomb to right field to give Lander its 12-1 score.
Bennett Sloper got the start in game one and went six innings to pick up his third win of the season. Slopper allowed just one run on five hits while striking out three. Tyler Bowen pitched the final inning where he gave up just one hit.
Game two (13-3 Lander)
Scoring 13 runs on 14 hits in game two of the series against Claflin, Lander saw three doubles and two home runs hit against the Panthers.
Tyler Prell, Wilder and Droze all had multi-hit games against Claflin with Droze and Wilder having three hits each. Droze and Caleb Singleton both had three RBI against the Panthers, with Singleton's RBI coming on a three-run home run late in the contest.
Lander would once again win in seven innings, with the Bearcats scoring in every single inning as well.
The Bearcats got the game going with a two-run home run from Droze in the first to put Lander ahead 2-0. Garrett would double to left field in the second inning to score Wilder while a double from Dupert to right field later in the inning brought home Garrett to give Lander a 4-0 lead. Prell would bring home a run in the third with a single through the right side to bring Droze home from third and advance the Bearcat advantage to 5-0.
The fourth inning saw Burgess score on a walk and Mason Streater bring home Dupert on a sac fly to right field to make it a 7-0 contest. With runners on first and third, a failed pickoff attempt at first allowed Wilder to score to bring Lander ahead 8-0 in the top of the fifth. Claflin would score all three of its runs on a pair of RBI singles in the bottom of the inning to make it an 8-3 game.
Four Bearcats came home to score in the sixth inning as Prell singled to center field to score Droze and a three-run blast from Singleton plated three more to bring make it a 12-3 contest in favor of Lander.
Lander would cap their scoring off with a sac fly to right field from Streater to bring Lander to its 13-3 final score.
Bennett Nance got the start and pitched six innings to earn his second win of the season. Nance allowed three runs on seven hits while striking out four. Kurt Rogers pitched a scoreless inning of relief where he struck out three.
Game Three (15-6 Lander)
The final game of the series saw the Bearcats plate 15 runs on seven hits. The Bearcats only had a pair of doubles in the final game while Wilder and Vincent DeRubeis both had multi-hit games. Both Wilder and DeRubeis had three RBI against the Panthers in the third game of the series.
Like the previous two games, Lander was the first to score. Droze singled to left field to score Burgess to put Lander ahead 1-0 in the first inning. Two runs came across after a Blake Marrs hit into a fielder choice while a throwing error by the Panther's catcher allowed Wilder and Chandler Moeller to score. Droze was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring home Marrs, Streater walked to bring home Burgess while a wild pitch allowed DeRubeis to score, putting Lander in from 7-0. Claflin would respond with a two-run in the bottom of the second to cut the Bearcat's lead to 7-2.
Lander would pick up the scoring in the third with three more runs. After a double from Marrs and a walk from Burgess, DeRubeis singled to left field to score the pair and put Lander ahead 9-2. Wilder would double to left field to score DeRubeis and Dupert, making it an 11-2 game for Lander. Claflin would once again respond, as three runs would come home for the Panthers in the bottom of the third, making it an 11-5 contest.
The fourth would be the lone inning that saw Claflin as the only team to score, as an RBI single brought Claflin to six runs on the game.
Lander would plate a run in the fifth after Burgess was hit by a pitch, allowing Wilder to score. After a scoreless sixth inning, Lander would cut the game short once again in the seventh. Marrs walked to bring home Wilder while a sac fly from Burgess scored Moeller. DeRubeis would help plate the final run of the game after an RBI single through the left side would score Bennet Nooe to give Lander a 15-6 edge.
Nick Foray got the start and went two innings. He allowed two runs on two hits while striking out three. Evan Mauldin pitched an inning after where he struck out two while Zach Pellegrino went four innings striking out five to close out the contest.
The Bearcats venture back out on the road to face Anderson on March 22 for a 5 pm start.
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