MELBOURNE, Fla.- Drury opened the 2018 season with a pair of losses at Florida Tech as they dropped game one 11-1 and fell in game two 7-4 on Saturday afternoon in Melbourne, Florida. 
 
Florida Tech held the Panthers to four hits in their 11-1 win in the first game. Drury fell behind 1-0 in the opening frame and allowed three more runs in the third inning.
 
Caleb Essick drove in Drury's only run in the game with a hit that scored Ryan Kayhill in the eighth.
 
Ty Cohen (2-0) got the win for Florida Tech as he went seven innings in the start and allowed just two hits and no runs with no walks and seven strikeouts.
 
Austin Simms (0-1) took the loss for Drury.
 
In game two, Florida Tech pulled away with a run in the sixth and another run in the eighth for a 7-4 win. Drury surrendered five runs in the first two innings but pulled within a run of the lead in the third.
 
Drury's Clayton Engel had a double, a triple and a run scored while going 2 for 4 at the plate. K.K. Daniel also went 2 for 4 with a double and the senior from Jacksonville, Florida drove in a pair of runs.
 
Sam Cocker (1-1) got the win for Florida Tech while Drew Beyer pitched four innings in relief allowing no hits and no runs to pick up his second save.
 
Alex Austin (0-1) took the loss for the Panthers. 
 
Florida Tech improved to 3-5 while Drury went to 0-2.
 
The three-game series concludes tomorrow with an 11 a.m. (central time) first pitch on Sunday at Seminick-Hall Field.
 
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