Georgia College GCSU 29-23

Lander LANDER 39-13

Georgia College GCSU

29-23

Final

May. 03, 2025

Lander LANDER

39-13

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	R	H	E
Georgia College GCSU	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	1
Lander LANDER	1	0	0	3	0	3	3	1	11	16	0

W: Sanchez, Joshua (3-0) L: B. Wilson (9-2)

Summary
Box Score

Hailey Franklin

Game Recap: Baseball | 5/3/2025 10:00:00 PM | Turner Kirby - Director of Athletic Communications

No. 30 Lander Run-Rules Georgia College, Advances to Bracket Final

GREENWOOD – The second-seeded Lander baseball team moved one step closer to a Peach Belt Conference Championship Series berth with an 11-1 run-rule victory over third-seeded Georgia College & State University in eight innings on Saturday afternoon at Dolny Stadium.

With the win, Lander (39-13) advances to the final of the Greenwood Bracket in the PBC Tournament. The Bearcats need just one win in a potential two-game scenario on Sunday at the Jeff May Complex to secure a spot in the championship series.

All nine members of Lander's starting lineup recorded a hit. Seven scored at least one run, and six players drove in a run in the balanced offensive attack.

Connor Droze opened the scoring with an infield single to plate Taichi Nakao in the bottom of the first. Georgia College, which wrapped up its opening-round win over Flagler at approximately 1:30 a.m., responded with an infield single of its own to tie the game at 1-1 after loading the bases with two outs. Lander starter Jagger Jefferis limited the damage and stranded all three runners. He would go on to leave five total runners on base over his 4.1 innings of work.

The Bearcats regained the lead in the fourth inning when Mario Lopez Jr. drove in Garrett Chun with an RBI double. Will McClellan followed by launching his eighth home run of the season over the left-field fence to extend the lead to 4-1.

A leadoff walk in the fifth led to Jefferis exiting the game in favor of Kurt Rogers, who needed just six batters to complete 1.2 scoreless innings.

Lander broke the game open in the sixth with three more runs. After loading the bases with no outs, Lopez Jr. scored on a Bobcat error before Nakao delivered a two-run double to make it 7-1.

A lightning delay halted play for nearly 90 minutes following the sixth inning, ending Rogers' outing. Once play resumed, Joshua Sanchez took the mound and retired the side in order in the top of the seventh.

The Bearcats tacked on three more runs in the bottom half, with Nakao and Evan Wickeri each providing RBI singles to make it 10-1. Lander appeared poised to walk it off in the seventh, but Georgia College turned a double play to extend the game.

Sanchez worked around a one-out double in the eighth, and the Bearcats went back to work. Walks to Droze and Lopez Jr., followed by a Chun single, set the stage for Cooper Backman to end it with a first-pitch single through the left side.

Lander will face the winner of Saturday's late elimination game between Georgia College and USC Aiken at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Pacers stayed alive earlier in the day with a 10-9 extra-inning win over Flagler.

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Score By Innings
		GCSU	LANDER
*BOT 1st*	C. Droze singled to third base, RBI; G. Sherrod advanced to second; T. Nakao scored.	0	1
*TOP 2nd*	B. Hamacher singled to first base, RBI; G. Wuerth advanced to second; R. Besterman advanced to third; H. Noonan scored.	1	1
*BOT 4th*	M. jr doubled to right center, RBI; G. Chun scored.	1	2
*BOT 4th*	W. McClellan homered to left field, 2 RBI; M. jr scored.	1	4
*BOT 6th*	C. Backman reached first on a fielding error by 3b, RBI; W. McClellan advanced to second; M. jr scored.	1	5
*BOT 6th*	T. Nakao doubled down the lf line, 2 RBI; C. Backman scored, unearned; W. McClellan scored.	1	7
*BOT 7th*	T. Nakao singled through the right side, 2 RBI; Z. Cowart advanced to third; A. Love scored; M. jr scored.	1	9
*BOT 7th*	E. Wickeri singled through the left side, RBI; T. Nakao advanced to second; Z. Cowart scored.	1	10
*BOT 8th*	C. Backman singled through the left side, RBI; M. jr advanced to second; G. Chun advanced to third; C. Droze scored.	1	11