Drury's late push for a chance to defend its Great Lakes Valley Conference baseball championship will start with a trip to Quincy for a weekend series with the Hawks on Saturday and Sunday in Quincy, Ill.

Coach Scott Nasby's Panthers (17-17-1, 12-11-1) were preseason picked a close second behind Quincy (22-13, 16-8) in the preseason GLVC West poll of league coaches. Now, with just three weekends left in the GLVC regular season, the scramble for the eight spots in the league's post-season tourney at a new site - Grand Park in Westfield, Ind. (May 7-10).

The Panthers sit in sixth place in the West standings entering the trip to second-place Quincy, but own the league's seventh-best win percentage among the league's 16 teams in the chase for those eight post-season spots. Only one East Division team - Indianapolis (16-8) - has an above-.500 record in league play. Translation for the Panthers: Play your way into the GLVC tourney field these next three weekends and just see what happens.

After the four games at Quincy this weekend - noon doubleheader starts both days - the Panthers have league series remaining at home with West seventh-place Rockhurst (April 25-26) before closing out the regulat season at West-leading William Jewell in Liberty. 

In order to make a move, the Panthers will have to break out of their split routine, which is mirrored by their overall 17-17-11 mark. On its last five doubleheader dates and six of its last seven, Drury has come away with a win and a loss, with only a two-loss day at UMSL on April 4 breaking up the string. The Panthers' last doubleheader sweep of a day, and the last time they've won back-to-back games, came on March 29 when they took two from Maryville at Meador Park.

Quincy has been uncharacteristically average at home this season, with a 7-6 mark, while going 12-6 on the road. The Hawks split a doubleheader with visiting Truman State on Tuesday, and opened the month of April by being swept in a four-game series at home by William Jewell. They've won six of eight games since.

The Hawks are hitting .307 as a team (second in the GLVC to Truman's .309), and are sixth in the league in team ERA at 4.09.

Drury is batting .295 as a squad (eighth in the GLVC) and ranks 10th with a 4.71 ERA. Quincy is tied for third in the league in fielding percentage (.968) to DU's tied for ninth (.961).

Quincy's Kory Wisdom is tied for the GLVC lead with 57 hits and paces the league's regulars with a .445 batting average, ranking second in the GLVC with 34 runs scored. David Jacobs is second in the league with 39 RBIs.

DU senior first baseman Luke Tewes is tied for the GLVC lead with 86 total bases and paces the Panthers with his eight homers (second in the GLVC) and 29 RBIs to go with a .380 batting average, second only to the .381 of senior outfielder Dallas Williams (.381, 6 HRs, 25 RBIs). The pair went a combined 7-for-14 at the plate in Tuesday's doubleheader split at home with Missouri S&T, in which third-year DU head coach Scott Nasby claimed his 100th coaching victory (100-47-1) with the 6-0 victory in Game Two keyed by seven shutout innings from freshman pitcher Austin Simms.

Tewes' 15 homers in two seasons already places him third on the DU all-time list, trailing just Tyler Goss (21 from 2007-10) and Matt Borgschulte (20 from 2012-13). His eight blasts this season are tied with Caleb Cole (eight in 2012) for the fourth most in a Drury single season, with the record 11 set by Borgschulte in 2013.

Drury is 21-11 all-time against Quincy, with a 5-0 record against the Hawks last season that included a sweep of their regular season four-game set at Meador Park and a 2-1 victory over the Hawks in the GLVC Championship game in Evansville, Ind. The Panthers are 8-7 all-time against the Hawks in Quincy.

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