OZARK - The Drury baseball Panthers opened GLVC play with a doubleheader sweep over Southern Indiana, 21-13 and 13-6 at US Baseball Park on Saturday.
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The Panthers improved to 8-8, 2-0 GLVC and Southern Indiana slipped to 7-7, 0-2 GLVC.
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In game one, Drury scored 21 runs on 21 hits in what was a true offensive outburst. The 21-13 run slug fest started off when USI hit a two run homer by Lucas McNew in the opening frame.  Drury evened the score in their half of the first with an RBI triple by
Clayton Engel and a wild pitch that allowed Engel to trot home. Â
Austin Wood capped off the Panther first with an RBI bloop to left to score
Aaron Mann. Brant Ollinger and Mann both added RBI doubles to push the Drury lead to 6-2 after two innings.  USI put a five spot on the board in the third and used a double, a homer and three singles to climb back on top 8-6.Â
The Panthers tied it up in the third before USI went back up 9-8 in the fourth.  Drury erupted for eight runs on six hits to claim a 16-9 lead and cap off a big fifth. Drury tacked on three runs in the sixth before USI cut the lead to 19-13 with four runs in the seventh. Drury added their final two runs in the eighth on RBI singles by Mann and
Nikko Calabro.
Mann went 5-for-6 with five RBIs and scored two runs in the opener and Calabro finished 4-for-6 with five RBIs and two runs.Â
Hunter Becker (1-0) got the win and went 4.2 innings with three K's.
In the nightcap, USI's McNew hit his third homer of the day for a 1-0 lead which would hold up until the bottom of the third when a
Jackson Dierenfeldt RBI single and a RBI sac from Ollinger put the Panthers up 2-1. USI scored runs in the fourth and fifth innings to go back up 3-2, but Drury countered with a pair of their own in the bottom half of the fifth on a USI error to take the lead back 4-3.
USI would put up their final three runs of the game in the sixth for a 6-4 advantage, but Drury was not done and scored two in the sixth, six in the seventh and one in the eighth for the 13-6 victory.
Ethan Owens went 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI to pace the Panthers who outhit USI 10-8. Â
Alex Austin (1-2) threw 3.2 innings of action to claim the win and fanned four USI batters.
Drury will continue their Great Lakes Valley Conference series vs. Southern Indiana on Sunday when they finish the three games series on Sunday with first pitch set for noon.
