NEWBERRY, S.C. – The Lander baseball team broke a five-game losing streak after a hard-fought battle against No. 16 Newberry that saw the Bearcats come away with a 9-4 victory on the road.
Lander moves to 20-22 overall while Newberry drops to 34-11. The Bearcats and Wolves finish the season-series tied 2-2.
Walker McDowell, Landon Dupert and Bradley Davis were tied in hits against Newberry with two each. McDowell, Davis and Matthew Burgess all notched two RBI each as well.
After a scoreless first inning for both Lander and Newberry, runs would start coming around in the second. The Bearcats would plate the first run of the game in the top of the second. After Ian Jenkins reach base on a walk to begin the inning and moved to second on a passed ball, Davis would score him on an RBI single to right field to put Lander up 1-0. The Wolves would use an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to score a runner from second to tie the game 1-1.
It would be a scoreless third inning for both teams before the Bearcats would open up the game with six runs coming around in the top of the fourth. Davis would plate another run on an outfield single, this time bringing home Connor Droze to make it a 2-1 contest. Later in the inning, Burgess brought home a pair of runs with a double to left-center while McDowell would score two runs on a single up the middle to give the Bearcats a 6-1 edge. Jenkins would draw a walk later in the inning with the bases loaded to score McDowell to bring Lander ahead 7-1.
Newberry would respond in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of RBI singles to score two runs and cut Lander's lead to 7-3. Newberry would plate another run in the bottom of the seventh on a sac fly to get the lead down three.
The Bearcats finally returned to the scoreboard in the top of the eighth with a pair of runs. After McDowell reached on a fielding error by Newberry's shortstop with two outs, Dupert would smash a double to right-center to score a McDowell while coming home to score on a wild pitch later in the inning to give Lander a 9-4 edge.
Bennett Nance acted as an opener for the Bearcats, as he only pitched one inning. In his lone inning of work, Nance allowed no runs or hits while striking out one. Of the seven pitchers used by Lander, only two pitched more than one inning. Michael Nastro who went 2.1 innings of work picked up his first win as a Bearcat. Nastro allowed two runs on four hits while striking out one. Garrett Major, the other Bearcats to go more than an inning, pitched 1.2 scoreless innings of relief with one strikeout. Zach Pellegrino and Kurt Rogers combined for four strikeouts and held the Wolves scoreless in the final two innings. Braeden Burton and Bryce Jackson also saw relief appearances.
Lander returns to Dolny Stadium to host Young Harris in conference action this weekend starting Friday, April 22 for a 6 pm start.
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