GREENWOOD – Adam Love lined a bases-clearing triple off the blue concrete of the right field wall to give Lander its first lead in the fifth inning, and Connor Droze hit his 50th career home run for insurance as the Lander baseball team claimed its first Peach Belt Conference Tournament title since 2014 with an 8-3 win over Columbus State on Friday afternoon at Dolny Stadium.
The tournament title is Lander's second-ever conference tournament crown and its fifth overall Peach Belt title when including regular-season championships (2014, 2024, 2025).
With the win, Lander (42-13) secured the Peach Belt's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional—its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016. Of the Bearcats' three previous trips, two ended in Cary, N.C., at the Division II Baseball Championship.
The 42 wins are the third most in program history, and the Bearcats finished 26-3 at Dolny Stadium this season—the best home record since the 2014 squad went 27-4.
Columbus State (30-23) scored three runs across the first three innings, including two in the third after a two-out error extended the inning. Lander's lone early response came in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Will McClellan.
The Bearcats trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the third as Taichi Nakao scored on a wild pitch during a walk to Droze. Then in the fifth, with two outs and the bases loaded after a Sherrod walk and singles by Droze and Garrett Chun, Love launched a deep drive that hit high off the blue wall in right field—just out of reach of the fielder—to clear the bases and give Lander a 5-3 lead.
A shutdown inning in the sixth by starter Jagger Jefferis (7-3) capped a gritty outing: six innings, five hits, one earned run. Kurt Rogers came on in the seventh and overcame some control issues to post a scoreless frame.
Then, in the bottom of the seventh, more Dolny Magic occurred. In what could be his final at-bat at Dolny Stadium, Droze delivered one for the history books—a towering three-run home run to right field, the 50th of his career, and became the first Lander player ever to reach the 50 home run mark. The homer sent a Dolny Stadium crowd of 323 into a frenzy as the Bearcats extended their lead to 8-3. Droze later earned PBC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors.
Columbus State threatened in the eighth, but Rogers stranded two runners. Tyler Bowen then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, sealing the win and sparking a long-awaited dogpile on the infield.
The NCAA Southeast Regional bracket will be revealed Sunday at 10:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Peach Belt Baseball
All-Tournament Team
Carson Phillips, Georgia College & State University
Phillip Ard, North Georgia
Warrick Wilmot, Columbus State
Luke Miller, Columbus State
Victor Junco, Columbus State
Zach Cowart, Lander
Evan Wickeri, Lander
Garrett Chun, Lander
Tournament MVP
Connor Droze, Lander