SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Panthers took Missouri State into the ninth inning tied at 8-8, but the Bears opened the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run from Drake Baldwin to win 9-8 at Hammons Field on Tuesday.
Drury dropped to 8-11 while Missouri State improved to 11-10 following the first-ever regular season meeting between the two programs.
The Bears scored three runs in the first inning, but the Panthers responded to take the lead with four runs in the second.
DJ McNew slammed his fifth home run in a week with a solo shot to open Drury's scoring in the inning.
Ethan Owens later drove in a run with a triple, and
Brant Schaffitzel's two-RBI hit gave the Panthers a 4-3 lead.
Drury added another run an inning later as
Carson Shaver belted a double that drove in McNew to put the Panthers in front 5-3.
Missouri State tied the game in the fourth on a solo home run by Logan Geha and an RBI double by Ben Whetstone.
But Drury answered again as Schaffitzel picked up another RBI with a single in the fifth inning, and
Aaron Mann pushed home another run with a hit giving the Panthers a 7-5 advantage.
In the sixth, Jaden Rolffs connected on a three-run home run to put Bears back in front 8-7.
The Panthers responded once more and evened the contest at 8-8 in the seventh as
Aaron Mann's single sent
Jackson Dierenfeldt across the plate.
Drury threatened in the top of the ninth with runners at first and second and one out, but Missouri State reliever Hayden Juenger got out of the inning with a strikeout and fly ball to right field.
"Obviously, we finished on the wrong side of it, but this game should give us a lot of confidence," said Drury head coach
Scott Nasby. "Knowing we were one swing away or one pitch away from winning that game should give our guys confidence in themselves and confidence against our future opponents."
The first three hitters in Drury's order went a combined 9 for 14 in Tuesday's game, and they produced five runs batted in. Dierenfeldt went 3 for 4 with three runs and a stolen base. Schaffitzel went 3 for 4 with three RBI's and a walk, while Mann went 3 for 6 with two RBI's.
Juenger (2-1) pitched 2.1 innings in relief to get the win, while
Cole Jenkins (0-1) took the loss for the Panthers.
Drury returns to conference play this weekend when they open a four-game series at Missouri S&T on Friday at 2 pm in Rolla.
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