GREENWOOD, S.C. – No. 37 (Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll) Flagler College scored three unearned runs in the eighth inning, but left the tying runner 90-feet away and suffered a 5-4 loss to No. 32 Lander University in a Peach Belt Conference baseball game on a bitterly cold Sunday afternoon at Dolny Stadium.
Lander swept the three-game series and improved to 7-2 overall and 3-0 in the Peach Belt. Flagler lost its fourth game in a row and fell to 1-4 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
Trailing 5-1 going into the eighth,
Josh Pagliei started the rally with a leadoff single to left field. Pagliei moved to second base on a miscue by the Lander first baseman on
Dylan Jones' ground ball. A walk to
Nick Oberg loaded the bases. After a strikeout,
Frankie Sagarese hit a tailor-made double play to the shortstop, but the Lander shortstop threw wildly to second base which allowed Pagliei and Jones to score while Oberg advanced to third and Sagarese moved up to second.
Igor Baez lofted a shallow fly ball down the right field line that dropped in front of the Lander right fielder which scored Oberg from third and Sagarese took third base. Baez was thrown out trying to advance to second base. That chased Lander starter JD Waite (2-0) from the game. The team's closer, Brandon White came on and got
Cole Ondrejka to hit a tapper back to the mound for the final out of the inning.
White allowed a base hit in the ninth to
Bryce Evans, but retired the other three batters to pick up his fourth save of the season.
Waite tossed 7.2 innings and scattered five hits, allowed four unearned runs, walked one and struck out five.
The Bearcats took a 5-1 lead by scoring an unearned run in the seventh inning when John Mangum reached on an error by Pagliei at third base with two outs. That miscue loaded the bases and the next batter, Taylor Kellner, singled to right to score the eventual winning run. Kellner finished the day 4-for-4 with a triple, two runs batted in and he scored a run. Thomas Berry singled, doubled, scored a run and drove in another.
Dustin Dye (0-1) took the loss on the hill for the Saints. He tossed 6.1 innings, scattered eight hits, allowed three earned runs, walked one and struck out nine batters.
Chris Lake closed the game with 1.2 scoreless innings. He allowed two hits, walked a batter and struck out three.
Six different Flagler players had singles. Baez and Evans had the only RBI singles.
Flagler will head down I-95 to take on former NAIA rival, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on Wednesday (Feb. 17) at 6 p.m. in Daytona Beach.
