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No. 9 Lander Holds off Late Trojan Rally

No. 9 Lander Holds off Late Trojan Rally
Box score

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Ninth-Ranked Lander recorded three home runs to power to a four-run lead, then held off a late Trojan rally for a narrow, 6-5, win past Anderson in non-conference baseball action Wednesday night at the Greenville Drive's Fluor Field.

Anderson (10-27) has dropped six of its last seven decisions, including four by a single run and dropped its second one-run decision to a top-10 team in the last eight days. Lander improved to 24-8 on the season.

The Trojans got on the scoreboard first, when junior Erick Sanderson led off the second inning by singling to shallow center field and scored on Ryan Kirkland's one-out double to left-center.

But the Bearcats took advantage of a Trojan miscue and answered with a solo run in the top of the third to knot the score at 1-1, then used a two-run home run from Jeff May to go up 3-1, then then the Bearcats made it 5-1 in the fifth when AJ Nunziato led off with a solo home run, and Jordan Owens drove in Patrick Grady with a one-out single.

The Trojans trimmed the lead to 5-2 in the sixth on another Kirkland RBI double, but Lander countered with Grady's solo homer in the seventh.

Anderson rallied for three runs in the eighth to cut the Lander advantage to 6-5 when Thomas Padro's RBI double past the third-base bag plated Tony Price and Brett Cash drove in Padro and Ryan Kirkland, who had drawn a walk. .

Sanderson held the Bearcats scoreless in the top of the ninth, but the Trojans were unable to carry over the momentum from the eighth-inning rally, as Lander reliever Ross Davis struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the Bearcat win and earn his fifth save of the season.

Lander's Ches Courtney earned the victory in relief after striking out one and allowing one hit in one inning of work. Anderson's Spencer Earle (3-4) suffered the loss after striking out one, walking three and allowing four earned runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Anderson gets back into South Atlantic Conference action with a three-game series at Wingate that starts on Friday. First-pitch is slated for 6 p.m. versus the Bulldogs.