Mount Olive junior Matt Dillon threw 178 pitches, but Lander freshman Colby Painter's three-run homer in the top of the ninth lifted the sixth-seeded Bearcats to a 7-5 win over the top-seeded Trojans in the first round of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional at Mount Olive, N.C.
Lander (38-18) never led until the final inning. Trailing 5-3, pinch-hitter Jacob Tisdale singled and came around to score on Jeff May's single. After Erik Lunde singled to left, Chris Hinton relieved Dillon (9-2). Painter followed with a long blast over the right field wall.
Mount Olive (44-9) took three different leads only to see Lander rally to tie. The Trojans struck first in the second. Nick Gaeta and Cameron Sherrer delivered one-out hits, setting up Mike Mercurio's two-out, two-run single.
After Lander pulled even in the top of the third, Mount Olive surged ahead again in the bottom of the third. Jacob Rogers singled and advanced to third on a double by Geno Escalante. Escalante's hit extended his hitting streak to 45 games, the fifth longest streak in NCAA Division II history. Rogers raced home on Braden Reitano's sacrifice fly.
The Bearcats tied the game 3-3 in the fourth on an RBI-single. For the second consecutive inning, however, Lander left the bases loaded. From the third through the sixth innings, the Bearcats left the bases loaded three times.
Dillon escaped trouble several times. He struck out Jordan Owens with the bases loaded in the third, then A.J. Nunziato and Patrick Grady with the bases loaded to end the fourth.
Dillon also benefitted from stellar defense. Antonio Callaway climbed the right-centerfield wall to rob Nunziato of a homer in the first, and Will Bynum raced down a long fly ball in the ninth.
The Trojans picked up insurance runs in the fifth and seventh innings. In the fifth, Gaeta's sacrifice fly scored Escalante who led off with a single. In the seventh, the Trojans turned hits by Reitano, Sherrer and Bynum into a 5-3 lead.
Painter finished with two runs scored and four RBI from the ninth spot in the lineup.
Postgame quotes--
Lander Coach Kermit Smith
On his team's 1st Regional win...
"It's not that big for us. We're not happy just to be here. Our goal is to win."
On Matt Dillon's performance...
"He did a tremendous job. He kept working out of trouble. We were a couple of hits away from a big inning, and he kept getting out of it."
Lander 3b Colby Painter
On his game-winning homer...
"I wanted to get a hit and I was looking for a fastball. I got one on the first pitch and I hit it. I've never done that in my life. Nothing this big."
