GREENWOOD – Aaron Fludd’s RBI single to right field in the 12th inning handed the Lander baseball team a 16-15 non-conference victory over No. 22 Erskine College after 5 hours and 7 minutes of action Tuesday night at Legion Field.

Ben Runyon (2-1) earned the win after striking out seven, walking one and allowing two hits in four innings.

Erskine’s Derek Smith (Lexington, SC, Lexington HS) (5-1) suffered the loss, striking out two, walking one and allowing no earned runs on one hit in 1.1 innings of work.

Lander took a 1-0 lead in the first when Jordan Owens’ RBI single plated Bud Lanier.

The Bearcats added five runs in the second inning to take a 6-0 lead. Ryan McNulty walked, advanced to second on Alan Abreu’s bunt single, and both advanced on a passed ball. After Brooks Reames walked to load the bases, Lanier was hit by a pitch forcing Abreu home, then back-to-back Erskine fielding errors allowed three more runs to score. Lander loaded up the bases again and another hit by pitch scored Robert Skinner.

Erskine cut the Lander lead to 6-1 in the third inning when Chas Anthony (Pickens, SC, Pickens High School) RBI double scored Brandon Garrett (Woodruff, SC, Woodruff HS).

The Bearcats stretched the lead to 12-1 in the six-run third inning. Fludd tripled, scored on an Erskine fielding error, then Skinner’s RBI single plated Lanier, followed by Skinner's score on Erskine’s fourth fielding error. Yet another fielding error sent Pete Hernandez home, then Abreu stroked a two-RBI double to end the inning.

Erskine rallied for six runs in the fourth to cut the lead to 12-7. Zach McCarthy (Spartanburg, SC, Byrnes HS) singled and advanced to second on Matt Youngblood (Travelers Rest, SC, Blue Ridge CC) walk, then scored on Garrett’s RBI double. Greg Huff’s RBI single scored Youngblood and Garrett, then Bryan Fogle (Lexington, SC, Lexington High School) followed with a three-run homer.

The Flying Fleet added three more runs in the fifth to cut the lead to 12-10. Casey Winckowski (Oregon, OH, Owens CC) singled, advanced to third on McCarthy’s single, then scored on a wild pitch. Huff’s RBI single then scored McCarthy and Youngblood.

The Fleet rallied for four runs in the eighth to take a 14-12 lead. Fogle doubled to right center, advanced to third on John Bolding (Pickens, SC, Pickens HS) single, and scored on Luke Danielewicz (Spartanburg, SC, Dorman High School) RBI single. Bolding and Danielewicz then scored on a Lander throwing error and Shawn Glover (Columbia, SC, Richland Northeast High School) RBI single plated Winckowski.

Lander came back in the bottom of the eighth and tied the game at 14-14 when Hunter Dowis scored on Reames’ sacrifice fly and Lanier went home on Skinner’s RBI single.

Erskine added what would have been the winning run in the ninth when Chas Anthony scored on a balk, but Lander came back in the bottom of the inning and tied it at 15-15 on McNulty’s RBI single.

For Lander, Devin Ridlehoover (2-for-6) and Fludd (3-for-7), both tripled, while Abreu went 3-for-4 with two doubles. Skinner batted 2-for-6.

For Erskine, Fogle went 2-for-7 with one homer and one double, Garrett batted 2-for-3 with one triple and one double, and Anthony (2-for-5) and Bolding (3-for-5) both doubled. Huff and McCarthy also collected two hits each.

With his 20th home run of the season, Fogle ties his own single season record that he set last season. Currently Fogle stands just six total bases away from the NCAA career record, while Anthony sits just two doubles away from the career record.

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