Due West, SC – #25 Erskine College took advantage of five Lander errors to defeat the Bearcats 10-6 in non conference baseball action Tuesday afternoon at Grier Field.

Lander would take the lead in the top half of the first, when Devin Ridlehoover walked to lead off the game and then later score on a single to left field by Pete Hernandez. In the bottom half of the inning, Bryan Fogle (Lexington, SC, Lexington High School) would hit a two out single to center field and then steal second base to put himself in scoring position. Chas Anthony (Pickens, SC, Pickens High School) would then reach base on a Lander error that allowed Fogle to score and tie the game. Erskine would then take the lead in the second inning when Drew Willingham (Greenwood, SC, Greenwood HS) reached on another error and later scored to make it 2-1. The Bearcats responded with two runs in the third, on a solo home run by Jordan Owens and a RBI double by Alan Abreu, to take the lead once again.

The lead would be short lived as Erskine would explode for six runs in the bottom half of the inning. Willingham would put the Fleet ahead for good with a two run double off the left field wall, followed by back to back home runs from Zach McCarthy (Spartanburg, SC, Byrnes HS) and Shawn Glover (Columbia, SC, Richland Northeast High School). Trailing 8-3 going into the fourth, the Bearcats would get RBI singles from Owens, Hernandez, and Ryan McNulty to pull Lander to within two runs. That would be as close as they would get as Erskine would tack on two runs in the bottom half of the inning and neither team would score for the rest of the game.

Willingham, Bolding, and McCarthy each drove in two runs for the Fleet offense, while Casey Winckowski (Oregon, OH, Owens CC) and Fogle each had two hits. Derek Smith (Lexington, SC, Lexington HS) picked up his first win of his career in 2.1 innings of relief work while striking out a career high five batters and allowing just one hit. Atlee Pearson (Duncan, SC, Byrnes HS) picked up his second save of the season pitching 2.1 innings of no hit work and striking out four.

Hernandez led the Bearcats at the plate going 3-5 with two RBIs, while Owens finished 2-5 with a home run and two runs driven in. Ross Davis (1-1) took the loss allowing 10 runs (three earned) in 3.1 innings of work and striking out four batters.

The Fleet returns to action Thursday as they host North Greenville University in a double header starting at 1:00 pm, while Lander plays host to Carson Newman in a double header tomorrow starting at 2:00 pm.

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