GREENWOOD – The Lander baseball team rallied for three runs in the sixth inning and five more in the seventh to defeat rival Erskine College, 10-4, Tuesday afternoon in a non-conference game at Legion Field. 

Lander improves to 16-12 overall, while Erskine drops to 18-11.

The Bearcats' Scott Elitzky (1-1) earned the win after allowing two earned runs on three hits in one inning pitched.

Erskine starter Robbie Brown (Dillon, SC, DillonHS) (1-1) took the loss after striking out four, walking three and allowing five runs (one earned) on five hits in 5.1 innings of work.

Lander took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Robert Skinner's two-RBI single, which plated Marshall Creed and Erik Lunde.

Erskine trimmed the lead to 2-1 in the fifth when Chase Corn (Travelers Rest, SC, Blue Ridge HS) doubled down the right line and later scored on Zach McCarthy (Spartanburg, SC, Byrnes HS)'s RBI single to right field.

The Flying Fleet went up 3-2 in the sixth on Drew Willingham (Hodges, SC, Greenwood HS)'s two-run homer over the left field fence.

Lander regained the lead at 5-3 in the sixth. With bases loaded and one out, AJ Nunziato and Skinner both scored on bases loaded walks and Jordan Owens' sacrifice fly plate Creed.

The Bearcats made it 10-3 in the seventh inning when Lunde's two-RBI single pushed Joe Tebaldi and Alan Abreu across the plate, Skinner's RBI single scored Creed and Owen's two-RBI double to right center sent Lunde and Skinner home.

The Flying Fleet cut the Bearcat lead to 10-4 in the eighth after Zach Smith (Lexington, SC, White Knoll HS) scored on Corn's sacrifice fly and tallied their final run in the ninth on Smith's RBI single.

For Lander, Skinner (3-for-4, one run, four RBI) and Owens (1-for-3, three RBI) both doubled, while Kevin Childs went 2-for-4.

For Erskine, Willingham batted 3-for-5 with one home run and two RBI, Corn went 2-for-3 with one double, one run and one RBI, and Smith went 3-for-5 with one run and one RBI.

Box Score