KIRKSVILLE, Mo.- The Drury Panthers started their four-game series at Truman State by sweeping the Bulldogs in a doubleheader on Friday winning game one 9-2 and taking game two 2-1 in eight innings in Kirksville, Missouri.
 
Drury improved to 12-15 and 4-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Truman State dropped to 7-15 and 1-5 in the league. 
 
In game one, Austin Simms (5-2) got the win going eight innings allowing four hits and two runs with three walks and seven strikeouts. The senior from Blue Springs, Missouri has struck out 18 batters in his last two games and 17 innings pitched.
 
Drury opened up a 1-0 lead with three runs in the fourth inning. Caleb Essick and Brant Schaffitzel hit back-to-back RBI doubles, and Ethan Owens tacked on an RBI single to give the Panthers a 4-0 lead.
 
Brandt Ollinger then gave Drury a 6-1 advantage in the top of the seventh with a two-RBI single. The Panthers added three more runs in the eighth on Ryan Kayhill's 3-run home run. 
 
Ollinger went 3 for 4 in the game with two runs, two RBI's and a double. Essick ended the game 3 for 5 with a run, two RBI's and a double.
 
Drury tied game two at 1-1 with a run in the sixth. Clayton Engel doubled and scored from second base on a wild pitch. The Panthers got out of a bases-load jam in the bottom half of the inning and grabbed the lead in the top of the eighth. Ryan Kayhill's sacrifice fly drove in Ethan Owens for the game-winning run.
 
Kayhill went 2 for 3 with an RBI in the game to finish the day 4 for 8 with 4 RBI's in the two games combined.
 
Ryan Wedemeyer (2-0) pitched two innings of scoreless relief for the win while Nick Constantino earned his third save of the season.
   
The series concludes with a doubleheader tomorrow that starts at noon in Kirksville, Missouri.
 
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