OZARK, Mo.— After allowing six runs in the top of the first inning, the Drury Panthers recovered to beat 23
rd ranked Quincy 10-9 on Sunday at US Baseball Park in Ozark.
Drury, celebrating Senior Day in their final home game of 2021, improved to 13-23 and 13-19 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and sent Quincy back to Illinois with a 26-9 record overall and a 23-8 mark in the GLVC.
Mason Meeks (1-4) got the win for Drury entering the game with two outs in the first, and the sophomore from Lake Dallas, Texas, finished the game going 8.1 innings, allowing five hits and three runs with four walks and five strikeouts.
"We've been looking for big-time performances, and
Mason Meeks gave us one," said Drury head coach
Scott Nasby. "That's probably the best relief outings in the history of our program – to go 8.1 innings and finish the game – that gives us momentum moving forward and is a great way to end the weekend."
Quincy scored six times before the Panthers came to the plate as they took advantage of five walks allowed by DU pitching in the inning as they scored six runs on four hits.
Drury responded in the bottom of the first, though, with three consecutive hits as
Jackson Dierenfeldt and
Brant Schaffitzel both singled, then were driven home by
Aaron Mann's triple.
The Panthers added two more runs in the second and took a 9-6 lead in the third inning scoring on RBI hits by
Collin Fraley, Dierenfeldt, and Mann. An outfield error by the Hawks also led to another Drury run as the Panthers scored four runs on five hits, all with two outs.
Drury held off Quincy until the seventh inning when the Hawks scored twice to tie the game at 9-9, but the Panthers seized the lead back in the bottom half of the inning when
Ethan Owens lined a single to right field that drove in
DJ McNew.
"Our offense has been extremely resilient all year long," said Nasby. "Under normal circumstances, it would be easy to say that, after three straight losses and you're down six-nothing, that you can just check it in. But we have a tough group of offensive guys, and I'm proud of them."
Meeks retired seven straight batters to close out the game.
Dierenfeldt went 3 for 5 with three RBI's, while Owens, in the final game of his career at US Baseball Park, went 3 for 3 with two stolen bases, two runs, and the game-winning RBI. Mann was 2 for 4 with three RBI's, a triple, and a walk.
Drury ends the regular season next weekend with a four-game series at Southwest Baptist. Game one is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 pm in Bolivar, Missouri.
#allweDUiswin
