SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Drury edged Maryville 7-6 in game one of a doubleheader on Sunday to extend their winning streak to seven games, but the Saints bounced back to win game two 7-4 at US Baseball Park in Ozark.
The Panthers ended the day with a 22-18 overall record and a 15-9 mark in the Great Lakes Valley Conference while Maryville went to 19-17 and 16-8 in the league.
Drury took a 5-1 lead in the third inning of game one on a grand slam by catcher
Nikko Calabro. The freshman sent a shot over the fence near the left-field corner for his fourth home run of the year.
The Saints battled back and took a 6-5 lead in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by Louis Nieberg, but the Panthers answered in the bottom half of the inning tying the game on an RBI hit from
Jackson Dierenfeldt who then gave Drury the lead scoring on an error.
Kaden Helsel (5-4) got the win for the Panthers going four innings in relief allowing four hits, one run and two walks with five strikeouts.
"There were times today when we really aggressive on the bases and were able to leg a few balls out, and that enabled us to get some additional at-bats," said Drury head coach
Scott Nasby. "One of those times was in the third inning and it set up Nikko's grand slam...that proved to be the difference-maker."
Calabro finished the game going 2 for 4 at the plate and had a double in addition to his home run.
In game two, Drury seized a 1-0 lead in the second inning as
Collin Fraley scored from third base on a ground ball by
Brandt Ollinger. The Panthers cruised into the middle innings with the lead as
Hunter Becker retired the first 10 batters he faced until Maryville's Wyatt Elbe broke through with a single in the fourth inning. That hit opened the door for the Saints as they scored twice in the frame to take a 2-1 lead.
Trailing 4-1 in the sixth, Drury pulled within a run as they scored on a sacrifice fly from
Aaron Mann and
Brant Schaffitzel crossed the plate on a wild pitch.
Maryville answered with three runs in the seventh, though, and the Panthers missed an opportunity in the bottom half of the inning as they left runners stranded at second and third.
"Maryville had some balls fall in play that weren't falling that way for them in the first two games of the series, but we hit a few too many guys, walked too many guys and didn't make enough plays defensively," said Nasby. "Offensively, we didn't have a good enough approach in game two, and we're probably going to see a few more arms like that in the next few weeks, so we're going to need to do a better job against guys with an arsenal like that."
Missouri University transfer Cody Siebenberger (4-2) got the win for the Saints going six innings allowing four hits, three runs, two earned runs and one walk with three strikeouts. Becker (3-1) lasted 6.1 innings but took the loss.
Clayton Engel went 3 for 4 at the plate for Drury, and the junior from Ozark hit his sixth home run of the year with a solo shot in the eighth inning.
The Panthers are idle until Friday when they travel to the University of Missouri-St. Louis for a doubleheader starting at noon on the UMSL campus.
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