EVANSVILLE - In a matchup of West Division favorites, Southern Indiana posted a 4-2 victory over Drury in their four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series opener here on Friday afternoon.
The Screaming Eagles (15-5 overall, 5-0 in the GLVC), in tying a school record with their 12th straight victory, grabbed the lead with two runs in the bottom of the second and wouldn't relinquish it as Drury had a five-game winning streak snapped in falling to 13-9 overall and 4-1 in the league.
USI starter Tyler Choate went eight innings, allowing seven hits and just one earned run, while striking out six and walking none to improve to 4-1 on the season. Shaun Larsen pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his sixth save.
Drury starter Blake Wixson (2-2) surrendered six hits and three earned runs in his seven innings of work, striking out four and walking three.
The Panthers struck first, going on top 1-0 in the second when Dane Hughes reached on a fielder's choice and later came home on a Screaming Eagles' error. But USI countered in the bottom of the inning on Dylan Mooney's two-run single.
The Screaming Eagles made it 3-1 in the fourth on an RBI single by Chad Werry. Drury pulled back to within 3-2 in the fifth when Bret Gallion reached on a bunt single and later scored on R.J. Knese's RBI single, but USI added an insurance run in the eighth on another Werry run-scoring single.
Knese, Gallion and Tyler Goss had two hits apiece for the Panthers, who matched USI with seven hits.
The teams continue the series with a noon double-header on Saturday and a single nine-inning contest, also starting at noon, on Sunday.
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