MARION, Ill.— The fourth-seeded Drury Panthers started the GLVC Tournament with an 9-8 loss in 11 inning to the fifth-seeded Indianapolis at Mtn. Dew Park on Wednesday.
The Panthers will move into the losers' bracket with a 31-22 record while the Greyhounds went to 31-20.
The Greyhounds owned a 5-0 lead going into the bottom of the second when the Panthers got on the board with a run on an RBI single by
Wyatt Morgan. Two batters later, an RBI single from
Jackson Crider cut the deficit to three runs.
The Greyhounds extended their lead to 8-2 in the fourth inning after some costly Drury errors.
Connor Bain launched his seventh home run of the year to lead off the rally in the bottom of the seventh with a
Kaden Byrne ground-rule double cutting the UIndy lead to three. A
Gabe Russell double led off the Drury bottom half of the ninth inning and a
Luke Matschiner sacrifice fly brought home Russell but put the Panthers down to their final out. Back-to-back singles from Crider and
Hesston Gray tied the game up for Drury as the game would go into extras.
Luke Smock reached base with two out in the 11
th, then stole second, reached third on a balk and scored the winning run on a passed ball.
Crider finished the game going 3 for 5 with two RBIs.
Landon Willbrand went 4 for 5, scoring twice and getting intentionally walked.
Connor Bain joined Crider with two RBIs, adding another run and two hits.
Luc Fuller (2-1) got the loss in relief for the Panthers, Frankie Klemm (5-0) took the win for the Greyhounds.
Zach McKinnis pitched 3.1 innings in relief only allowing three hits.
Chase Mason went 3 for 3 with two walks and one RBI.
Drury will face the loser of the #1 Lewis Flyers and #8 Missouri-St. Louis at 12:30 pm on Thursday.
#OneDrury
