GREENWOOD, SC – The Augusta University baseball team split a Peach Belt Conference twinbill with Lander on Sunday afternoon. The Jaguars are now 12-11, 3-3 inside conference play while Lander is also 3-3 in conference and 14-8 overall.
Augusta tallied 11 hits to Lander's five to lift them past the Bearcats.
Kyle Lodise went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI to lead Augusta.
Dylan Wanat went 2-for-5 with 2 RBI while
Harrison Aulds also turned in 2 hits, including a home run in the sixth inning.
After each team put three runs on the board in the first inning, AU added two runs in the second and would remain ahead for the rest of the game.
Koby Ayala also added two hits. On the mound,
Robert Hunt got the start.
Brandon Byler (1-0) picked up the win and
Britt Kelly registered his first win of the season.
The second game was back and forth the entire way. Wanat homered to right field in the top of the first inning for AU's first score of the game. A sac fly from
Parker Ingram added another in the inning. The Bearcats answered with three runs of their own in the inning.
Nolan Turner doubled to push the score to 3-4.
Kyle LaRoche hit a bomb to left field that scored two more runs and gave AU a slight 5-6 edge. After Lodise came home on a wild pitch in the sixth for a score, Wanat doubled down the right field line in the seventh for the final Augusta score.
The Bearcats would score two runs in the eighth. Two 2 RBI homer runs late in the game gave Lander the win.
Wanat, Ayala, and
Jake Vachon all had multiple hits in the contest.
On the bump,
Will Cantrell pitched the first 6.1 innings, striking out seven batters.
Brayden Howigren tossed the next 0.2 innings before
Aedan Cates (0-1) closed out the final 1.2 innings.
Augusta will host Emmanuel on Tuesday, March 12. First pitch is slated for 4:00pm.
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