Late Sacrifice Fly Lifts Lander Past Eagles, 2-1
GREENWOOD, S.C. – Lander's Robert Skinner hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and Michael White pitched stellar relief as the Bearcats won the final game of the Lander Baseball Invitational 2-1 Sunday night at Legion Stadium. Lander won two of three games in the tournament, improving to 5-3 on the season. Carson-Newman falls to 3-5.
Lander won two of three games in the tournament, improving to 5-3 on the season. Carson-Newman falls to 3-5.
The No. 8 ranked University of Tampa was 3-0 in the tournament, Grand Valley was 2-1, while No. 5 Mount Olive and Lynn University were 1-2.
The game was tied at 1-all going into the bottom of the seventh when Adam Davey drew a leadoff walk from Eagles reliever Ben McKinney (1-2) and moved to second when Bearcats pinch hitter Pete Hernandez also drew a walk. The runners moved up on Erik Lunde's ground out to second, and Davey scored on Skinner's sacrifice fly to medium center field.
White (1-1) was the winning pitcher for Lander. The Greenwood native pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out three.
Brandon Miller, also a Greenwood native, entered with two outs in the ninth and allowed Cody Nix's infield single before retiring Aaron Vargas on a nice play by shortstop A.J. Nunziato for the final out. It was Miller's first save.
Carson-Newman took a 1-0 lead in the second when Kyle Koeneman walked, stole second, and scored on Jonathan Dalton's single. Dalton was sacrificed to second by Troy Zawadski and to third by Nix, and continued past third toward home, but Lander first baseman Jordan Owens threw him out at the plate.
The Bearcats tied it in the third when Lunde doubled into the right-field corner and scored on Marshall Creed's single up the middle.
Lander starting pitcher Scott Elitzky allowed one run on three hits in five innings of work, striking out seven and walking four.
Eagles starter Robby Thigpen allowed one run on four hits in 5.2 innings, striking out four and walking four.
Creed and Owens each reached base three times for the Bearcats, both collecting one hit and two walks. Nix led Carson-Newman with two hits in three at-bats.
The Eagles return to action at Pfeiffer University on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is at 2:30 p.m. in Meisenheimer, N.C.
