GAFFNEY, S.C. – The Lander baseball team took down the Limestone Saints for the second time in the span of a week as the Bearcats came away with a 9-5 victory Tuesday evening.
Lander moves to 17-22 overall while Limestone drops to 15-24 overall.
Connor Droze, Lucas Martino, Ethan Wilder and Gary Garrett were all tied with two hits against the Saints. Droze had a home run among his two hits while Garett recorded a pair of doubles.
Droze and Garrett led the team with two RBI each.
The Saints would jump out to a 2-0 lead after the second inning.
Lander would take the lead in the top of the fourth.
Droze would lead the inning off with a solo shot to center field to make it a 2-1 contest. Tyler Prell would hit into a fielder's choice to score Martino from third to tie the game.
Garrett would hit a double to left field later in the inning to score Ross McCurley and Wilder to put Lander in front 4-2.
Limestone would counter with two runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game 4-4.
The game wouldn't stay tied long as Bennet Nooe would help score Droze on a fielder's choice and a throwing error.
After holding Limestone in check in the bottom of the fifth, Lander would plate another run in the sixth.
With the bases loaded McCurley would come home to score from third on a wild pitch.
The seventh inning would see each team held scoreless.
Lander would finally widen the lead in the eighth inning.
After Mathew Burgess and Will McClellan reached base, Droze would single through the right side to score McClellan and give Lander a 7-4 lead. McClellan would score shortly after on a passed ball while Wilder would draw a walk later in the inning to allow Droze to score with Lander now leading 9-4.
Limestone would score one run in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI single to conclude the scoring,
Matthew Ellis got the start and went three innings. Ellis allowed two runs on two hits while walking one and striking out three.
Michael Nastro pitched three scoreless innings where he allowed just three hits while striking out two to earn the win
Tyler Hall, Tyler Overholt and Bennett Sloper also saw relief appearances. Sloper threw 1.1 scoreless innings where he struck out three.
Lander stays on the road as it travels to St. Augustine, Fla., to battle Flagler starting Friday, April 14.
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