AMERICUS, Ga. – There was a little less drama than last season, but the Lander baseball team clinched a share of its second straight Peach Belt Conference regular-season title with an 8-3 win over the Georgia Southwestern Hurricanes on Sunday afternoon at Hurricane Stadium. The title marks Lander's third regular-season championship in program history, joining the 2014 and 2024 teams.
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Lander (37-13, 23-4 PBC) will enter the Peach Belt Conference Tournament as the No. 2 seed and will host a four-team, double-elimination pod at Dolny Stadium alongside third-seeded Georgia College and State University, sixth-seeded Flagler, and seventh-seeded USC Aiken. The Bearcats will open tournament play against USC Aiken with first pitch set for 3 p.m. on Friday.
Lander wasted little time grabbing the lead. Adam Love beat out a potential double play with the bases loaded to drive in a run, and Mario Lopez Jr. added a second run with an RBI single to left to give Lander a 2-0 lead after the first inning.
A sacrifice fly by Georgia Southwestern (29-21, 16-11 PBC) cut the lead in half, but a wild pitch in the third allowed both Connor Droze and Love to score, stretching the advantage to 4-1.
The Hurricanes trimmed the lead again in the fifth inning, but Cooper Backman answered with an RBI single in the sixth to re-establish the three-run cushion. Lopez Jr. then delivered the knockout blow in the seventh inning, sending a three-run home run down the left-field line to extend Lander's lead to 8-2.
Luke Johnson (6-2) earned the win on the mound, tossing five innings and allowing just two runs. Jake Larson and Richie Cortese each pitched two innings in relief, with Cortese slamming the door by retiring six straight Hurricanes, striking out two, and sealing both the win and the title for Lander.
The Peach Belt Baseball Tournament will get started on Friday at 3 p.m. as Lander faces USC AIken. Georgia College and Flagler will follow at 6:30 p.m. The full schedule of games can be found below.
Friday, May 2
3:00 pm - #2 Lander vs. #7 USC Aiken
6:30 pm - #3 Georgia College & State University vs. #6 Flagler
Saturday, May 3
11:00 am - Winner game 1 vs. Winner game 2
2:30 pm - Loser game 1 vs. Loser game 2
6:00 pm - Loser game 3 vs. Winner game 4
Sunday, May 4
1:00 pm - Winner game 3 vs. Winner game 5
Game 7 (if necessary) 30 minutes following game 6
