SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Drury got a strong start from
Jack Jones and smacked a pair of home runs to complete a four-game series sweep of Upper Iowa with an 8-2 win on Sunday at Mark Worley Field at Meador Park in Springfield.
The series was originally scheduled to be played in Fayette, Iowa, but moved due to winter weather. Upper Iowa had the last at-bat throughout the series.
Drury improved to 11-11 and 9-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and the Peacocks fell to 6-17 and 3-9 in the GLVC.
The Panthers scored a run in the first, then added three more in the fourth, scoring twice on an error at third base.
Brandon Holdren belted a solo home run in the fifth, and
Luke Burk belted his ninth homer of the year with a two-run shot in the seventh.
Drury starting pitcher
Jack Jones (1-0) got the win and fired seven shutout innings. The senior from Tulsa, Oklahoma, allowed only two hits and no runs with three walks and five strikeouts.
"Our goal has been to work (Jack) back into our rotation because we are going to be a different team with him and we WERE a different team without him," said Drury head coach
Scott Nasby on his starter who had only worked 8.2 innings this season prior to Sunday's start. "We were really happy to see him attack the zone, attack hitters, and make sure he wasn't beaten on his walks."
Max Elmer went 2 for 4 at the plate for Drury with one run and an RBI. Burk finished the game 2 for 5 with 3 RBIs and the senior from Galena, Missouri, reached base safely in his 32nd straight games in a streak that dates back to the last 10 games of last season.
"Making sure we had people get in scoring position for the guys who routinely get us our RBIs is the most important thing," added Nasby. "We have to make sure, one through nine, that we are competitive through the entire count, and I thought we did a much better job of that this weekend."
Upper Iowa scored their only runs in the eighth after the Panthers built an 8-0 lead.
Drury is back at home next weekend when they host Quincy in a four-game series starting on Thursday at 3 pm at Mark Worley Field at Meador Park.
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