MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - The Lander Baseball team came back from multi-run deficits on two occasions, including scoring three in the ninth inning to tie the game, but the Mount Olive Trojans led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off home run to take the rubber matchup of the three-game series, 8-7, on Sunday afternoon at Scarborough Field.
Lander now sits 2-5 while Mount Olive is 5-2.
As they did in the first two games of the series, the Trojans jumped out to a 2-0 lead, this time by scoring a pair of runs in the first inning.
Despite getting the leadoff runner on in the second and third, the Bearcats were held scoreless through the first three innings but Mario Lopez Jr. (Tampa, Fla.) changed that in the fourth by driving home his first of two runners in the game to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Lander took the lead in the fifth inning off an RBI double from Grant Sherrod (Sumner, Wash.) to make it 3-2, Lander.
After giving up the two runs in the first, Anson Merrick (Chapin, S.C) only allowed four hits over the next six innings of shutout ball.
Zach Cowart (Lexington, S.C.)Â added an insurance run in the seventh with an RBI single to make it 4-2 with two innings to play.
Mount Olive did not go quietly as they plated five runs in the bottom of the eighth off three different Lander pitchers to flip the game on its head and give the hosts a 7-4 lead.
Lander, however, responded in kind with a three-spot of their own to tie the game off a Lopez RBI single, a bases-loaded hit by pitch from Brody Winter (Anderson, S.C.) and a sacrifice fly from Garrett Chun (Jacksonville, Fla.).
But, five pitches into the bottom of the ninth, Mount Olive won the game with a solo shot to right-center to win the series.
Lander returns to the friendly confines of Dolny Stadium on Friday, February 14th as they host Mars Hill for the first of a three-game set. First pitch for Game 1 is set for 5:00 PM.
