GREENWOOD – The Lander baseball team returned to Dolny Stadium to face the Belmont Abbey Crusaders but fell to the visitors 18-6.

Lander falls to 20-26 overall while Belmont Abbey moves to 31-15 overall.

Ian Jenkins and Gary Garrett both had multi-hit nights against the Crusaders while Tyler Prell led the Bearcats in RBI with two.

The Crusaders started the scoring with a solo home run to center field in the top of the second. Lander would respond with two runs in the bottom of the inning when Tyler Prell hit a single through the left side to score Jenkins and Connor Droze to put Lander up 2-1.

Belmont Abbey jumped back in front with a seven-run third inning. The Crusaders would then score two more runs in the fourth to go up 10-1. After Belmont Abbey scored a run in the fifth to take an 11-1 edge, Mason Streater got Lander back on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single to score Chase Dougherty to make it a 11-3 contest.

Two more runs came across for the Blue and Gold in the bottom of the sixth after Landon Dupert singled to right field to score Garrett and Droze hit a double to center field to score Ross McCurley, making it an 11-5 contest. The final run of the night came in the bottom of the seventh when McCurley hit an infield single to score Oliver Zohn from third.

The Crusaders would finish the game with three runs in the eighth and four in the ninth to make it an 18-6 contest.

Michael Nastro got the start and was awarded the loss. He went 2.1 innings where he allowed seven runs, six earned, on four hits while striking out two. Tyliss Roper pitched a pair of spotless innings in the sixth and seventh where he struck out four and allowed no runs or hits while only facing six batters. Gage Smith, Tyler Bowen, Zach Pellegrino, Justin Wager, Chandler Moeller and Drew Luckey all saw relief appearances as well.

Lander concludes the regular season with a conference series against USC Aiken starting Friday at home.

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