SPRINGFIELD, Mo. –
Cody Bahl broke two Drury records en route to a 7-5 Panthers win over McKendree in the opening game of a four-game set at Mark Worley Field at Meador Park in Springfield. The win improves Drury to 25-20 and drops McKendree to 15-26.
Bahl broke the first record of the night in the top of the first. Entering play he was only two outs away from breaking the career innings pitched record at Drury. A one, two, three inning gave him the record and 300 career innings.
Drury helped their ace out in their half of the first inning with a three spot. The two-out rally started with a
Jackson Crider hit by pitch, his 25th of the season.
Hesston Gray would then single, followed by a
Carter Wambach walk to load the bases.
Connor Bain would hit a rocket down the right-field line to clear the bases.
The Panthers added to their lead in the third inning. After
Jackson Crider walked and advanced to second on a ground ball,
Carter Wambach doubled off the right field wall to score Crider. Wambach would eventually score after a single from
Connor Bain.
Cody Bahl struck out the final two batters of the fourth, all three in the fifth, and the first batter of the sixth for five straight strikeouts and his 11th of the night.
Carter Wambach added another RBI in the fifth to score Crider from second.
Hesston Gray would score the next batter on a Bain single. The RBI was Bain's fifth of the game, tied for the most in a game this season for a Drury hitter. The two runs gave Drury a 7-0 advantage.
McKendree would crack the scoreboard in the sixth with an RBI double.
In the top of the eighth inning,
Cody Bahl would strike out the final batter of the inning to pick up his 14th strikeout of the game, a Drury single-game record. The record had been in place since February 8, 2020, when Tom Tewes struck out 13 against East Central.
Despite trailing 7-1 and striking out 14 times, the Bearcats kept fighting. McKendree scored four runs in the top of the ninth to keep hope alive, but
Brady Childs entered out of the bullpen. Childs would strike out two of the final three batters of the game to get his fourth save of the season and give the Panthers a 7-5 win.
Connor Bain led Drury offensively with five RBIs and 3-4 on the day.
Carter Wambach also had two RBIs.
Cody Bahl grabbed the win and moved to 3-5 on the season. He had 14 strikeouts, five earned runs, and four walks.
Brady Childs had two punch outs in the save.
The Panthers will play games two and three against the Bearcats tomorrow at Mark Worley Field starting at 1 pm.
#WonDrury
