FLORENCE, S.C. – Scoring eight runs over the last six innings, the Lander baseball team defeated Francis Marion 10-4 on the road Tuesday evening.
Lander improves to 5-10 overall while Francis Marion drops to 7-8 overall.
Oliver Zohn and Matthew Burgess both had a team-high three hits. Seven Bearcats recorded an RBI against the Patriots while four Bearcats had a stolen base.
The Bearcats struck first in the top of the second. With two outs, the Bearcats' offense would come to life.
After Matthew Burgess reached on a fielder's choice, he would score on a triple to right center by Gary Garrett. Garrett would score on the next at-bat as Dalton Stroud singled to left center to put Lander in front 2-0.
After a scoreless third inning for both teams, Lander would score again in the fourth.
Tyler Prell began the inning with a single through the left side before reaching third on a single by Burgess and a wild pitch. Another wild pitch would score Prell to give the Bearcats a 3-0 edge.
Lander would score at least one run in the next five innings.
After walking and stealing second, Will McClellan came around to score in the fifth on an RBI single to left field from Connor Droze.
Francis Marion would score on a ground out in the bottom of the inning to make it a 4-1 contest.
Lander would plate its run in the sixth on a double steal and a throwing error from the Patriot's catcher to allow Oliver Zohn to come home from third to put Lander in front 5-1.
The Bearcats would score for the fourth consecutive inning as Prell brought home McClellan from third on a ground out to the shortstop to bring Lander's advantage to 6-1. The Blue and Gold wouldn't be done scoring in the seventh. Burgess would reach on a fielder choice with the bases loaded while Droze would beat out the throw home to give Lander a 7-1 lead while a failed pickoff attempt and throwing error from FMU's catcher allowed Ethan Wilder to score for the eighth run of the game for the Bearcats.
Francis Marion would tack on its second run of the game on an RBI single to center field in the bottom of the seventh.
Lander would continue to add to its lead as Wilder sent a fly ball to center field to score Caleb Singleton, who had reached on a fielder's choice along with stealing a base earlier in the inning.
The Patriots would get the offense going in the bottom of the eight as a run came across on a single through the left side to make it a 9-3 game. A walk later in the inning would plate the fourth run of the game for FMU.
After coming in to pinch hit in the top of the ninth, Kyle Murphy hit an RBI single up the middle to score Burgess for the 10th run of the game for the Bearcats.
Bennett Sloper got the start and pitched the first two innings where he allowed no hits or runs. Dawson Campbell pitched the next four innings and recorded the win. Campbell allowed two hits, one run while walking one and striking out three.
Luke Johnson, Chandler Moeller, Garrett Major and Tyler Bowen also saw relief appearances.
Lander will travel to Americus, Ga., for a PBC series with Georgia Southwestern this weekend.
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