DAHLONEGA — An impressive performance by 20th-ranked Lander, including solid nights from Taylor Kellner at the plate and Will Jones on the mound, led the Bearcats past the University of North Georgia baseball team Friday, 12-0. North Georgia falls to 17-14 overall and 8-11 in Peach Belt Conference play.
Both teams had opportunities to score early but neither could plate a run in the first three innings of play. Lander took advantage of a two-out error to get two runners on base in the first before Brandon Agar struck out John Mangum to end the inning. Devin Gearhart took the first pitch of the bottom half of the first down the left field line for a double but was stranded there as Jones retired the next three UNG batters.
After three scoreless innings, Lander broke the scoreless tie on a Kellner two-run home run that cleared the scoreboard in right-center.
The Bearcats added five more runs in the fifth, starting with a Colby Lusignan double off the top of the left-field wall that scored Zach Daly to put Lander up, 3-0. After a Mangum RBI single, Kellner hit his second home run of the evening, a three-run shot to right center that extended the Lander lead to 7-0.
Kellner put Lander on the scoreboard again in the seventh on a single back up the middle that brought home Thomas Berry and stretched the Bearcat lead to 8-0. LU added four more in the ninth to bring the game to its final 12-0 score.
NOTES
- All three UNG hits were leadoff hits and were on the first pitch of their respective innings.
- Kellner finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and six RBI for the Bearcats.
- Jones (4-2) earned the win for the Bearcats, working around three leadoff hits and striking out seven in 8.0 innings. Agar (3-3) was tabbed with the loss despite striking out six. He gave up seven runs off eight hits and walked two.
NEXT UP
The two teams will meet again in game two of the PBC series tomorrow at 6 p.m. in Dahlonega.
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