EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Drury's bats awakened just in time Saturday to salvage a split of its Great Lakes Valley Conference baseball double-header with West rival Southern Indiana, scoring eight runs over the final three innings to beat the Screaming Eagles 10-6 in the nine-inning nightcap.
Southern Indiana claimed a 2-1 victory in the opener, with D.J. Smith outdueling Drury freshman Chris Barratt in the seven-inning contest.
USI, which had a school record 13-game winning streak snapped with the loss in Saturday's second game, fell to 16-6 overall and 6-1 in the GLVC, while Drury moved to 14-10 and 5-2. The teams will close the series with a single nine-inning contest at noon on Sunday.
In the nightcap, Drury trailed 6-1 after three innings and appeared on its way to an 0-3 deficit in the series before the bats rallied late in the contest. The Panthers scratched out a run in the fifth when R.J. Knese came home on a USI error, then made it interesting with three in the seventh - on RBI singles from Brett Gallion and Tyler Goss and a Dane Hughes sacrifice fly - to pull within 6-5.
Drury then took the lead in the eighth on RBI singles from Gallion and Joe Rohlfing to go up 7-6, adding three runs in the ninth for good measure on a Kendall Findley RBI single and another from Gallion, who went 3-for-6 with two runs and three RBIs to pace Drury's 16-hit attack.
Knese also finished with three hits and Rohlfing, Goss and Tyler Wright had two hits each.
The Panthers' big comeback was keyed by six shutout innings in relief from Carl Teghtmyer (3.0 IP), Evan Jones (0.1 IP) and closer Zane Montgomery (2-1), who got the victory by throwing 2 2/3 innings and allowing just three hits, striking out two and walking none. Montgomery induced a double-play to kill a USI rally when he entered in the seventh, then worked out of a second and third, nobody out jam in the eighth - thanks to a big defensive play from third baseman Joel Potts - to preserve the win.
In the opener, Barratt (2-2) delivered yet another strong outing, going six innings and allowing seven hits and two runs while striking out seven, but the Panther bats were held to just five hits and a lone run in the first inning, produced by a Rohlfing sacrifice fly.
The Screaming Eagles picked up single runs in the first and fourth innings for the win.
Wright had two hits and Rohlfing, Knese and Gallion added one each for the Panthers in the opener.
Game 1 Box
Game 2 Box