MIDLAND, Mich.- Drury stayed close but this time could not string together hits in the late innings as the Panthers fell to top seeded Northwood 3-2 in the winners' bracket semifinals of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional tournament on Friday in Midland, Michigan.
 
The Panthers fell to 37-19 while Northwood, ranked 8^th nationally and hosting the tournament as the top seed, raised their record to 45-11.
 
Drury, who rallied with three runs in the final two innings yesterday for a 3-2 opening round win over Bellarmine, will play an elimination game on Saturday at 10 a.m. (central) against Wayne State (Mich.).
 
Northwood struck for two runs in the first inning but the Panthers came back and tied the game in the third on a two-RBI single by K.K. Daniel.
 
The game stayed deadlocked until the seventh when Timberwolves DH Ryan McClelland singled home a run to put Northwood ahead 3-2.
 
Drury got a break with a base-runner in the eighth when Ryan Colombo reached base on an error but the Timberwolves' infield redeemed themselves with a double-play ball to get out of the inning. The Panthers were retired with three consecutive fly balls in the ninth to end the game.
 
"Our pitchers did a good enough job to keep us in it but offensively we couldn't score enough runs to give ourselves a victory," said Drury head coach Scott Nasby. "We were in the same spot we were in yesterday but this time couldn't get the hits we needed but we're happy to have an opportunity to get back out there tomorrow."
 
Ian Dimitric (7-4) got the complete-game win for Northwood and allowed five hits, two runs and one walk with four strikeouts.
 
Garrett Woods (8-3) took the loss for the Drury despite allowing only one earned run. He went 6.1 innings and allowed nine hits with no walks while matching a season high with eight strikeouts. Alex Austin entered the game in the seventh and retired the only batter he faced. Alex Stilwell went 1.1 innings retiring all four he batters he saw and struck out two.
 
Colombo led the Panthers at the plate going 2 for 4.
 
Austin Simms (7-4) is Drury's projected starting pitching on Saturday. The junior from Blue Springs, Missouri is coming off of a win over Illinois-Springfield last week in the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament. The Panthers will be playing Wayne State for the first time since their 2014 meeting in an NCAA-II regional that resulted in a 1-0 Warriors win.

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