OZARK, Mo.- The Drury Panthers were four outs away from a doubleheader sweep against the University of Missouri-St. Louis but the Tritons' late-inning rally in game two forced a split as Drury won game one 9-2 but lost the second game 5-4 on Sunday at U.S. Baseball Park in Ozark.
 
The Panthers ended the day 10-15 and 2-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. UMSL went to 10-12 and 2-2 in the GLVC.
 
In game one, Drury blew open a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a three-run home run by 3B Clayton Engel. It was the first homer of the season for the sophomore from Ozark as he slammed a shot over the right-field wall. Engel ended game one going 3 for 4 with three runs scored.
 
"Clayton was pretty clutch at the plate throughout the day," said Drury head coach Scott Nasby. "That (home run) was the shot in the arm we needed in the first game to get us over the hump and open up a lead."
 
The Panthers added three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth inning.
 
SS Ethan Owens went 3 for 3 with a walk, a run scored and two runs batted in.
 
Drury trailed 3-0 midway through game two but took the lead with a four-run fifth inning. The Panthers got on the board with a wild pitch that scored Nathan Schweppe from third, and they tied the game on Engel's base-hit that drove in two runs. Ryan Kayhill followed with an RBI-double to give Drury the lead.
 
UMSL tied the game with a run in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk, and they completed the comeback in the top of the ninth. A.J. Davis hit a one-out triple that set up Jacob Monti's RBI-hit through a drawn-in Drury infield.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, the Panthers got a lead-off single from Owens and Engel's sacrifice bunt moved him to second base, but Drury hit a fly-ball to right field and lined out to third base to end the game.
  
The Panthers return to action on Friday with a doubleheader to open a four-game series at Truman State. Game one starts at noon in Kirksville, Missouri.
 
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