OZARK, Mo.— 23
rd ranked Quincy managed to hold off two Drury rallies to sweep the Panthers in a doubleheader at US Baseball Park in Ozark on Saturday. The Hawks took game one 9-7, then completed their afternoon with an 8-6 win in the second game.
Drury ended the day with a record of 12-23 and 12-19 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while Quincy improved to 26-8 and 23-7 in the GLVC.
The Panthers took a 3-1 after the first inning of game one, but Quincy took over with a six-run second inning, capped off by a grand slam from first baseman Michael Nielson. Drury chipped away and pulled within a run of the lead in the sixth on an RBI single by
Brant Schaffitzel. Quincy added an insurance run in the top of the seventh to go in front 9-7, and held off the Panthers after Drury had the tying run on base in the bottom half of the inning.
Aaron Mann went 3 for 4 with a run in the game, while Schaffitzel was 2 for 4 with two runs batted in. Tyler Carpenter (4-0) got the win in relief for the Hawks, while
Bayler Hinz (1-2) got the loss.
Drury fell behind early in game two as well as Quincy scored three runs in the second and three more in the third to go ahead 6-1. The Panthers pulled close in the final inning, though, as they scored five runs in the seventh highlighted by Mann's three-run homer. The sophomore from Little Rock, Arkansas, went 2 for 4 with a double, home run, and three RBI's in the game to give himself a 5 for 8 afternoon at the plate in the doubleheader.
Spencer Walker (4-1) got the win for Quincy, going all seven innings.
Kaleb Schmidt (2-3) took the loss for Drury.
"We let them stretch the lead a little bit too far," said Drury head coach
Scott Nasby. "We scored five in the last inning of game two to make it tighter, but if we could have kept it tighter through the game, we could have come away with a win."
The two teams conclude their four-game series on Sunday at US Baseball Park. Game time has been moved to 11 am with the threat of thunderstorms. Senior Day ceremonies will take place on the field before the game at approximately 10:40 am.
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