GREENWOOD – Going all the way to the 12th inning, the Lander baseball team took a chance on a wild pitch on a strike three call to send Gary Garrett home from second to win a 7-6 contest against rival Erskine College on Friday.
Lander begins the season with a 1-0 record while Erskine starts 0-1 on the season.
The Flying Fleet would be the first to strike, as the visitors platted the opening run in the top of the first. With runners of first and third, a sac fly to right field scored a run to give Erskine a 1-0 lead.
The Bearcats would counter with a sac fly of their own in the bottom of the third to tie the game. After a double from Ethan Wilder put him and Oliver Zohn in scoring position, a sac fly from Connor Droze to center field brought Zohn home to make it a 1-1 game. Lander wasn't done scoring yet, as a towering blast from Chris Manriquez cleared the right field fence to put Lander up 4-1.
Erskine got their bats going again in the top of the fourth. The visiting Flying Fleet scored two runs in the inning with the first coming off an RBI single flown down the right field line that scored a runner from third while the second run of the inning came off an error to allow the Flying Fleet to get within one run of Lander with the score 4-3.
The bottom of the inning would see more runs come home. Matthew Burgess was able to battle his way back in the count to draw a one-out walk before reaching third off a double from Garry Garrett. Zohn would drive in a run this time around as he singled to the shortstop to plate Burgess and give Lander a 5-3 lead.
There wouldn't be much time to wait for more runs, with Erskine scoring again in the top of the fifth. A hard grounder hit to Burgess allowed a run to score from third to get the Flying Fleet within one run of Lander once again.
After a scoreless bottom of the fifth for Lander, the Flying Fleet got the contest tied with a home run to right field to begin the top of the sixth. The Bearcats would retake the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Burgess would double down the left field line with one out before advancing to third on a wild pitch. Burgess would eventually come home to score on a ground out from Garrett to second to give Lander a 6-5 advantage.
Erskine wouldn't take a break from scoring either, as it plated a run in the top of the seventh. After a lead-off single, a triple would being home the tying run while a throw out at the plate starting with Ian Jenkins would prevent an inside-the-park home run.
Neither squad would be able to plate a run from the bottom of the seventh through the 11th inning.
The top of the 12th would see Erskine go three up, three down before the Bearcats got back to work.
With one out, Burgess sailed a fly ball that dropped in center field to put a runner on base. Garrett would trade places with Burgess on a fielder's choice. Zohn would then single through the left side to put Garrett on second.
Wilder would strike out swinging the next at-bat, but a passes ball got away from the Flying Fleet catcher that allowed Wilder to reach first base safely. In the process of Wilder moving to first, Garrett turned on the jets from second and slid headfirst into home plate to avoid a tag and win the game for the Bearcats.
Garrett Major would claim the season's first win after pitching an inning of work. Major retired all three batters he faced.
Nick Foray got the start on opening day. Foray went 5.1 innings while giving up five runs, all earned, on five hits while striking out one and walking three. Zach Pellegrino, Tyler Overholt and Tyler Bowen also saw relief appearances with Overholt and Bowen dealing scoreless relief appearances.
Lander and Erskine conclude the series with a doubleheader on January 4, with the first game set for 12 pm.
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