COLUMBUS, GA. – The Lander baseball team once again battled No. 2/9 Columbus State tough till the very end, but the Cougars would prevail with a 6-4 victory in the second game of the series.

Lander drops to 19-22 overall and 9-11 in the PBC while Columbus State moves to 33-6 overall and 17-3 in the PBC.

Four Bearcats were tied with one hit each while Landon Dupert, Ian Jenkins and Bradley Davis all earned an RBI against the Cougars.

The Bearcats would be first to score, with a lone run coming in the top of the first. Jenkins would hit a ball to the Cougars shortstop, but an error would allow him to reach base and bring Dupert home to score.

Neither team would score in the second, but the Cougars would plate three in the bottom of the third to take the lead.

The Bearcats would respond in the sixth as Bradley Davis helped bring a run in after he was hit by a pitch that allowed Connor Droze to score. Lander would tie the contest at 3-3 in the seventh after Jenkins singled to right field to score Vincent DeRubeis from second. Columbus State would score two runs of its own in the bottom of the seventh off a sac fly and RBI single to go up 5-3. The eighth inning would see the Red and Blue go up by one more run, as a solo shot to left-center field plated another run for the Cougars.

Lander would get back on the scoreboard, as Dupert bashed a pitch out to right-center for a solo home run and make it a 6-4 contest.

Nick Foray got the start against Columbus State and went five innings where he allowed three runs, two earned while striking out five. Tyler Bowen was awarded the loss. Evan Mauldin, Zach Pellegrino and Braeden Burton also made relief appearances.

The Bearcats and Cougars conclude the series on Saturday for a 1 pm start.

#cLawsUp | @LanderBaseball