GREENWOOD – The Lander baseball team picked up a pair of wins over Claflin University in a doubleheader, winning 12-5 in game one while winning 14-3 in seven innings in game two at Dolny Stadium on Friday.
Lander moves to 12-17 overall and 8-6 in the PBC while Claflin drops to 0-24 overall and 0-14 in the PBC.
Lander (12) – Claflin (5)
Connor Droze would lead the Bearcats with four hits and four RBI. Of his four hits, Droze had a pair of doubles and a home run.
The Bearcats exploded for five runs in the first inning.
Lander would see its first six batters reach base. Oliver Zohn would hit a leadoff single up the middle before Dalton Stroud and Will McClellan walked to load the bases. Connor Droze would send a double to right-center field to score Zohn and Stroud.
After Chandler Moeller walked to load the bases, Chris Manriquez would smash a double to right-center to clear the bases and give Lander a 5-0 lead.
After a scoreless second and third inning, Lander would put up three more runs in the fourth.
With two outs, McClellan would double to left field before Droze would send a missile over the right field fence to put Lander in front 7-0. Tyler Prell scored the final run of the inning with a single to left field to score Moeller from third and put Lander ahead 8-0.
The Panthers would get on the board in the top of the sixth after an RBI single to right field scored a runner from third. Claflin would plate one more run in the top of the seventh to make it 8-2.
Lander would respond with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Zohn would bring home two runs on a double to center field that scored Gary Garrett and Burgess while a ground out from Stroud later in the inning brought home Zohn to give Lander an 11-2 lead.
Claflin would produce three runs on five hits in the top of the eighth to make it an 11-5 contest.
Lander would get its 12th run of the game when Garrett hit into a fielder's choice that scored Manriquez from third.
Nick Foray got the start and earned his second win of the season. Foray went seven innings where he allowed two runs, all earned, on seven hits while striking out five.
Braeden Burton and Matthew Ellis both saw relief appearances. Ellis threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts.
Lander (14) – Claflin (3)
The Bearcats were led in the second game by Oliver Zohn and Matthew Burgess with two hits. Lucas Martino had three RBI while four Bearcats had two each.
Lander began the second game of the doubleheader the same way as the first, scoring the first run.
The first run of the game came as Will McClellan hit a bouncing ball to third and reached on a fielding error. Dalton Stroud scored in the process. Matthew Burgess would hit an infield single to third that scored Stroud later in the inning while Caleb Singleton would send a sac fly to left field to score McClellan and give Lander a 3-0 lead.
After a leadoff triple for Claflin, an infield single would score the first run of the game for the Panthers in the top of the second.
Lander would tack on four runs in the second inning.
McClellan would score the first run of the inning on a single to left field to score Stroud. A double from Tyler Prell down the left-field line would score McClellan and Stroud to put Lander up 6-1. A sac fly from Burgess to right field allowed Droze to come home from third and give the Bearcats a 7-1 lead.
The Panthers scored in consecutive innings as a single up the middle scored a run to make it a 7-2 game in the top of the third.
Two runs would come across in the bottom of the fifth for the Blue and Gold.
Gary Garrett brought home the first run on a sac fly to center field to score Burgess while an infield single to second from Oliver Zohn scored Singleton to give Lander a 9-2 edge.
After Claflin scored its third run of the game on an RBI double to left center field, Lander would rally for five runs in the bottom of the sixth.
With the bases loaded, Garrett would draw a walk to bring home Burgess to make it 10-3 Lander. Lucas Martino would come up to pinch-hit and smash a bases-clearing triple to deep center field to put Lander up 13-3. Martino would come home to score on a passed ball and give Lander a 14-3 edge.
Cooper King got the start and earned his third win of the season. King went six innings where he allowed three runs, all earned, on seven hits while striking out three. Tyler Bowen pitched the final inning where he struck out one while allowing no hits or runs.
Lander and Claflin conclude the conference series tomorrow, March 25 at Dolny Stadium for a 3 pm start.
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