WESTFIELD, Ind. - When he arrived on the Drury campus, former Panthers baseball coach Mark Stratton dubbed a then-freshman Austin Faulconer as "Big Diesel" - a play on Faulconer's rather burly build. Over the last couple of years, that nickname somehow evolved into "Big Cat."

Now a senior, after Faulconer's effort on Friday in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship tourney, perhaps it should evolve some more ... maybe, "Big Game?" Or perhaps, "Big Time?"

Because Faulconer delivered arguably the best performance of his career at the most opportune of times, hurling a complete-game, nine-inning shutout as the seventh-seeded Panthers downed No. 3 seed William Jewell 2-0 to remain just one of two unbeatens in the league's post-season tourney at Grand Park.

The 6-foot-3, 234-pound Faulconer, set to become a Springfield Police Department officer after his graduation this month, handcuffed the Cardinals on just five hits, striking out a career-high 10 and issuing just one walk as the Panthers moved into Saturday's 2:30 p.m. game against fourth-seed Southern Indiana, which eliminated Truman State 6-4 on Friday evening.

The defending national champion Screaming Eagles are 28-22 after winning 12 of their last 13 games.

Top seed Quincy defeated No. 5 seed Truman 6-4 in Friday afternoon's other contest to remain unscathed. Jewell eliminated 2-seed Indianapolis with an 8-1 victory Friday evening.

Drury, the defending GLVC champion, moved to 29-22-1 with its 12th win in its last 14 games, while Jewell - shut out for the first time this season - fell to 36-16. The victory likely gave the Panthers a boost in the NCAA-II Midwest Region rankings; Drury entered the GLVC meet at No. 5, while the Cardinals were No. 2 in the region. The top six teams will advance to NCAA-II tourney play next weekend, with the final bids revealed late Sunday.

Without question, the Panthers are in this position due largely to their seniors. Thursday, it was senior pitcher Trevor Richards delivering the huge effort on the mound, before senior Gage Jacobs came in to close things out.

On Friday, Faulconer's effort ranks as one of the best by a post-season Panther in the program's nine-year history. It also was career victory No. 27 for the DU record-holder, who pulled out of a tie with Will Landsheft (25) a couple of weeks ago to own the mark himself.

"Our seniors have stepped up and on the mound, and it's been fun to watch," Drury coach Scott Nasby said. "Faulconer knows every pitch might be his last and he is fighting for another start. Now I'm looking forward to seeing how (Luke) Burnidge can follow up his buddies on the mound tomorrow."

 

Faulconer was staked to a 1-0 lead in the third when Mike Rafter raced home on a Jewell wild pitch. It stayed that way until the eighth, when senior first baseman Luke Tewes ripped an RBI double down the right-field line to score Dallas Wiliams with a huge insurance run.

Faulconer (6-5) came back out for the ninth, and after a one-out Jewell walk, induced a groundout and flyout for the win and the first nine-inning outing of his career, outdueling Jewelll's Nick Farleigh (4-4), who went the distance for the Cardinals. Farleigh allowed six hits and two runs, striking out three and walking five in his eight innings of mound work.

Faulconer's 10 strikeouts were a career-high (topping the nine Ks he registered against Grand Valley State earlier this season) and were just one off the DU record of 11 held by Blake Wixson, Richards and Landsheft.

Tewes went 3-for-4 with the one RBI to lead Drury's six-hit attack. 

NOTES

*Tewes pushed his season average to .403, back above .400 for the first time since he was hitting .407 on April 1. He's bidding to become just the third Panther in the program's history to better the .400 mark for a season - Nick Thimesch hit a record .464 last season, and Kendall Findley batted .404 in 2010.

*Tewes is a scorching 11-for-16 (.688) with four runs and seven RBIs over his last four games.

*Drury improved to 9-1 in the GLVC Tourney under Nasby with its sixth straight victory in the post-season event. The Panthers are 15-7 all-time in the league tournament, with titles in 2007 and '14.

*The Panthers will be gunning for their third straight 30-win season and fourth in the last five years on Saturday. The 2012 DU squad finished 29-22.

*Drury and Southern Indiana will be meeting for the first time since USI scored twice in the ninth for a 4-2 victory in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional title game last May in Evansville. The defending national champion Screaming Eagles have won 12 of their last 13 games to get to 28-20 on the season.