SPRINGFIELD, Ill.— Drury's opening round game in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional tournament ended in heartbreak as Illinois Springfield scored on a two-out error in the bottom of the ninth to defeat the Panthers 5-4 at Robin Roberts Stadium in Springfield, Illinois on Thursday.
Drury, seeded seventh in the regional, fell to 30-24 while the Prairie Stars, the host and second seed, improved to 38-15-1.
The Panthers were held scoreless for the first six innings and trailed 4-1 going into the seventh when they battled back. Drury pulled within a run of the lead in the top of the seventh inning after
Nikko Calabro was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, then
Brant Schaffitzel's sacrifice fly pulled the Panthers within a run.
Drury tied the game at 4-4 in the eighth on
Jackson Dierenfeldt's infield single that drove home pinch-runner
Will Sachs.
The Panthers were one out away from forcing extra innings. After reliever
Alex Austin (4-5) got back-to-back strikeouts to start the bottom of the ninth, Ruben Markham kept Illinois Springfield alive with a single and then scored from first base when Chris Mathieu's fly ball was dropped in the outfield allowing the winning run to score.
"We're now in single-elimination, so I'll take my chances with the team that fights the hardest, and this team fought pretty hard tonight, but things didn't go our way," said Drury head coach
Scott Nasby. "We walked or hit 13 batters, but we were able to pitch well enough and play good enough defense to keep us in the ballgame. We just ended up giving them too many bases, including the one at the end."
Prairie Stars pitching also gave their share of free passes as four pitchers combined to walk five with two hit batsmen and UIS committed two errors. Drury stranded eight runners while Illinois Springfield left 11 on base.
Collin Fraley had two of Drury's five hits and went 2 for 4 at the plate. Fraley led off the eighth with the single and set the stage for the tying run.
Brock Immke (7-3) got the win for Illinois Springfield as he pitched 1.2 innings of relief.
The Panthers will now face Quincy in an elimination game on Friday at 3:30 pm in Springfield, Illinois. The Hawks lost to Wayne State 8-6 in the tournament's other opening round game. The Prairie Stars advance to the winner's bracket where they will face Wayne State on Friday at noon.
"We have to come back on Friday and fight all nine innings," said Nasby. "We need to do what we did at the plate in the last few innings, what we did defensively, and what we did on the mound when we weren't walking guys...then you take your chances with the team that fights the hardest."
Drury's probable starter on Friday is
Kaleb Schmidt (3-4, 3.78) who is expected to go up against Quincy's Nick Stroud (7-4, 3.46). The Hawks have won three of their four meetings against the Panthers this season including an 11-8 win over Drury in Game 10 of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament last Saturday.
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