EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Southern Indiana's stellar pitching held the Drury bats in check for the third time in four games, leading to a 6-2 victory over the Panthers Sunday afternoon in the Great Lakes Valley Conference series finale.
Alex Thieroff allowed nine hits, but just one run in his eight innings of mound work to pick up his first decision of the season as the Screaming Eagles improved to 17-6 overall and 7-1 in GLVC play.
Drury fell to 14-11 and 5-3 in dropping three of the four games to USI. The Panthers, who led the GLVC in runs (186) and batting average (.338) entering Sunday's game, scored a total of five runs in the three losses.
The Panthers out-hit the Screaming Eagles 11-6, but couldn't come up with the timely delivery when needed in the finale. Down 6-0, Drury scored twice in the ninth on sacrifice flies by Tyler Wright and Dane Hughes.
It wasted another solid effort from junior left-hander Harrison Waters (3-1), a hard-luck loser after going seven innings and allowing just four hits and two earned runs while striking out six.
Tyler Goss, Bret Gallion, Jason Hall and Kendall Findley had two hits each for the Panthers, who struck out just once in their 34 at-bats, but also drew no walks.
The Screaming Eagles led 3-0 after four innings, then added three runs in the eighth off the DU bullpen, including a key two-run single by Kyle Rowley, to make it 6-0 before the Panthers answered in the ninth.
Drury returns to action on Wednesday, playing host to Missouri Southern in a single nine-inning game starting at 3 p.m. at Meador Park. The Panthers are then home next weekend for a GLVC four-game set with Rockhurst starting Friday night.
DU fans are invited to the bi-weekly Mark Stratton Drury Baseball Luncheon on Tuesday at Rivals Casual Grille on S. Glenstone. The luncheon begins at 11:30 a.m. upstairs in the "Press Box" area of Rivals, and presents fans an opportunity to gain updates on the Panthers as well as meet selected players and ask questions of the coaching staff.
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