ST. CHARLES - Drury's late-season surge came to an end late Saturday, when fourth-seed Truman State scratched across two seventh-inning runs and edged the fifth-seeded Panthers 5-3 to eliminate Drury from the NCAA-II Midwest Regional at the Lou Brock Sports Complex.

Coach Scott Nasby's Panthers went 2-2 in the regional and finished the season with a 33-24-1 record after knocking top seed Quincy out of the tourney with a 4-1 victory earlier in the day.

But this time, the clutch late hits simply weren't there for the Panthers, who battled back from a 2-0 early deficit to tie it, took a 3-2 lead in the sixth, watched Truman tie it with a run in the bottom of the frame, and then had a pair of costly seventh-inning errors contribute to the Bulldogs' game-winning spurt.

Truman (34-20), which defeated Drury 9-5 on Friday night, will meet sixth-seed Ashland for the regional title at noon Sunday. Should the Eagles defeat Truman in the first game, they'll have to do it again immediately afterward to earn the trip to the Division II World Series.

A DU squad that had developed a knack for coming up with big runs late was held to just a sixth-inning run over the final six frames by three Truman pitchers. Mark Roberts (5-2) went 7 2/3 innings, allowing eight hits and three runs to get the win, while Peter Young pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

The Panthers, having played one more game in the regional than the Bulldogs, turned to sophomore right-hander Ryan Colombo - the regular second baseman who hadn't pitched for nearly a month - at the start, and got solid relief work from freshman Nick Costantino afterward. 

TSU got a run off reliever Aaron Alexander in the sixth, and then scored two unearned runs thanks to DU miscues in the seventh, when the Panthers turned to closer Gage Jacobs (0-3), who had tied the program's single-season record for saves (13) earlier in the day.

That's all the boost the Bulldogs needed to finish off the Panthers and end an amazing run in which DU won 16 of its last 20 games, captured its second straight Great Lakes Valley Conference championship and reached the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive year - with a team that stood 17-20-1 in mid-April.

"Our season could have ended two weeks ago," Nasby said. "This may not have been our deepest team, but it was one of the grittiest we've had.

"Truman took advantage of a couple of defensive hiccups and it gave them the advantage.

"I'm proud of the way these guys fought this year and the determination they showed to get us to where we are as a program today."

Luke Tewes and John Goodrich each had two of DU's eight hits. Tewes and Tyler Arthur - two of the eight seniors on this DU squad - drove in the second-inning runs with a double and a single, respectively. The Panthers tallied in the sixth when Colombo raced home on a wild pitch.

T.J. Wood had three hits and two RBIs for the Bulldogs, who beat the Panthers for the fourth time in six games this season.