Lander Takes Game One of PBC Baseball Championship Series

5/8/2025 9:20:00 PM | By: Turner Kirby - Director of Athletic Communications

GREENWOOD, S.C. – The Lander baseball team slugged four home runs that accounted for eight of the team's 11 runs as the second-seeded Bearcats defeated fourth-seeded Columbus State, 11-5, in Game 1 of the Peach Belt Conference Championship Series on Thursday afternoon at Dolny Stadium.

Lander (41-13) now needs just one win from a potential two games on Friday to clinch its first Peach Belt Conference Tournament title since 2014.

Garrett Chun led the home run barrage with a pair of shots to right field—a first-inning grand slam and a sixth-inning two-run blast—doubling his season total in the process. Zach Cowart and Grant Sherrod added solo homers to power the Bearcat offense.

Dominic Puccetti earned his 10th win of the season—becoming the first Bearcat to reach double-digit victories since Will Jones went 10-3 in 2016. The junior left-hander tossed eight innings, tied for the longest outing by a Bearcat this season, and struck out seven while scattering 10 hits and five runs. Puccetti also reached a major milestone, becoming the first Bearcat since Jones to reach 100 strikeouts in a season. Jones finished the 2016 campaign with 106.

Lander jumped all over Columbus State starter Ryan Suppa in the first inning, as the first five batters reached base. Evan Wickeri opened the scoring with an RBI double, and after Sherrod was hit by a pitch and Connor Droze walked to load the bases, Chun blasted a 1-1 pitch over the right-field wall for a grand slam to give the Bearcats a 5-0 lead.

Cowart extended the lead to 6-0 with a solo homer to left field leading off the second inning, chasing Suppa from the game. Droze added a sacrifice fly later in the frame to make it 7-0.

The Cougars (30-22) got on the board in the fourth with an RBI single, but Lander answered quickly with two more runs in the bottom half. Sherrod launched his 11th home run of the season to lead off the inning, and Mario Lopez Jr. added an RBI double to make it 9-1.

Columbus State capitalized on a Lander error to plate three runs in the fifth, trimming the lead to 9-4, but Chun's second homer of the game in the sixth reasserted control for the Bearcats.

The Cougars added a solo shot of their own in the eighth, but Joshua Sanchez closed things out with a 12-pitch ninth inning to seal the victory.

Lander out-hit Columbus State 13-10 and committed just one error. Chun finished 3-for-4 with six RBIs and two runs scored, while Sherrod reached base three times and scored twice. Cowart added two hits and drove in a pair.

Game 2 of the championship series is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. at Dolny Stadium. If necessary, Game 3 will begin approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of Game 2. Tickets can be purchased online at landerbearcats.com/pbctix.

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