GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Lander's Colton Yeager went 4-for-6 with a pair of home runs as the Bearcats defeated host Tusculum 12-3 Tuesday at Pioneer Park in college baseball action.
Lander (5-5) used a seven-run, fourth inning which was highlighted by a three-run homer by Mason Dodd as 13 Bearcats went to the plate. Lander finished the game with 12 hits and took advantage of four Tusculum errors.
Tusculum pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts in the game which are tied for the ninth-most in program history.
TC sophomore shortstop Daulton Martin went 4-for-4 including his second triple of the season to extend his hitting streak to 23 consecutive games, dating back to last year. It is the fourth longest batting hitting streak in Tusculum history.
Lander scratched an unearned run in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. TC took to lead with two runs in the bottom of the third as Zack Finchum reached on a two-out error and scored on Martin's triple to center field. Martin would score the go-ahead run on a wild pitch as TC led 2-1.
In the top of the fourth, Lander's Mike Fitschen and Carson Jones led off with back-to-back singles. After a foul out, Dodd stepped to the plate and sent a three-run blast over the right field fence. Kyle Jenkins recorded his first collegiate hit and Bailey Connell was hit by a pitch to put two runners aboard. Connell and Jenkins pulled off a double steal to put both runner in scoring position. Connell scored on Yeager's RBI single to right. After a walk to Nathan Schreckengost, Fitschen recorded his second hit of the frame, a two-run triple down the right field line to give Lander an 8-2 lead.
Meanwhile, reliever Robbie Hoyt pitched three shutout innings, scattering a pair of hits and recorded two strikeouts.
Yeager belted a pair of two-run homers in back-to-back at-bats in the sixth and seventh innings to put the game out of reach.
Hoyt picked up the victory to go to 1-1 on the season, while TC starter Trent Collins (0-1) suffered the loss as he went 3 2/3 innings and posted six strikeouts.
Tusculum returns to action this weekend when they host Mars Hill for a three-game series to open the South Atlantic Conference campaign. First game of the series will be Friday night at 6 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. doubleheader.