Lander wins series with walk-off home run

Lander wins series with walk-off home run

GREENWOOD, S.C. - Pinch hitter Bud Lanier homered in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving No. 22 Lander a 4-3 Peach Belt Conference baseball victory over Georgia Southwestern Sunday afternoon at Legion Field.

The Bearcats won the three-game series after splitting a double-header Saturday. They improved to 10-3 overall and 2-1 in the PBC. The Hurricanes fell to 7-9, 1-2.

Lanier pinch hit with one out and hit his fifth home run of the season in walk-off fashion well over the fence in left center.

Lander took a 1-0 lead in the first when Brian Bender walked, moved to second on Devin Ridlehoover's sacrifice bunt, and scored on Josh Lovvorn's two-out double to right.

The Hurricanes tied it in the fourth when Chris Lingham hit a leadoff triple to left and scored on Shane Doyle's sacrifice fly to left.

Georgia Southwestern took a 3-1 lead in the top of the sixth as Lingham doubled, Bud Long walked, and Jared Allen beat out an infield single to load the bases. Francisco Gomez reached on an error to score one run and Daniel Stokes hit a sacrifice fly to left to score the second run.

Robert Skinner homered over the left-field fence to pull the Bearcats within 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth. It was Skinner's third home run of the season.

Lander tied it in the eighth when AJ Nunziato walked, moved to second on Lovvorn's sacrifice bunt, and scored on Skinner's two-out double to left center.

Skinner was Lander's only player with multiple hits, going 3-for-4 with a home run and double and two RBI. Lingham led the Hurricanes, going 3-for-5 with a double, triple and two runs, while Gomez and Kevin Carroll each went 2-for-4.

Lander's David Glover (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth inning to get the victory while Bud Fuller was tagged with the loss. Both starting pitchers performed well as the Bearcats' Tim Rau and Georgia Southwestern's Zach Whitman got no-decisions.

The Hurricanes are back home on Wednesday for a 5:00 p.m. non-conference game with Auburn-Montgomery.