SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Behind a six-run third inning and 6 2/3 innings of shutout relief by freshman Anthony Vita, Drury baseball secured an 8-7 victory over Lewis Friday evening in the two clubs' Great Lakes Valley Conference opener at Mark Worley Field at Meador Park.

Vita (1-0) notched his first mound victory as a Panther and combined with fellow reliever Caden Crask-Weeks for 8 1/3 shutout innings to hold off the Flyers after DU erased a two-run deficit with its six-run outburst. Jackson Crider turned in a 3-for-4 night that included run-scoring hits in each of Drury's two scoring rallies.

Lewis (5-12, 0-1 GLVC) wasted little time in taking an early lead when the Flyers' No. 3 hitter, Daniel O'Brien, popped a two-run homer to right field off Drury starting pitcher Kaleb Thomas, who was forced to leave the contest after facing just three batters due to an apparent injury.

That's when Vita was pressed into duty, and the freshman responded in a big way. After surrendering a base hit to the first Lewis hitter he face, Vita would dispatch the next six Flyers in succession and nine of the next 10 opposing batters overall. He wouldn't allow his second hit until a two-out Alex Chalton single in the fifth, and then worked around a leadoff hit in the sixth by inducing a double-play grounder off the bat of Jackson Hunley.

In all, Vita scattered six hits and fanned four hitters over his 6 2/3 frames, before departing following the seventh inning.

At the plate, the Panthers overcame the 2-0 Lewis lead with its six-run rally that included run-producing hits from five different hitters. Following the first of two Colin McClure singles in the inning, Luke Matschiner drew a walk to set up Crider's RBI single to left and Logan Reidelberger's run-scoring double that knotted the score at 2-2. Reidelberger extended his career-best hit streak to 17 games, which tied Nick Thimesch's 2011 streak for the fourth-longest in program history.

Drury (10-7, 1-0 GLVC) wasn't done, as Connor Bain's sacrifice fly plated Crider with the go-ahead run, before Greydon Miller lashed his GLVC-leading fourth triple of the season to right to chase home a fourth DU run. Jackson Edwards came through with an RBI-single and -- following a walk to Xander Schmitt and a hit-by-pitch for Landon Willband -- McClure registered a base hit to right to bring in the sixth Panther run of the rally.

The Panthers added two more runs to stretch their cushion to 8-2 in the fifth. Crider dealt the biggest blow with his two-out, two-run single.

But Lewis mounted a rally of its own in the eighth, scoring on RBI-singles from Chris Daugherty and Brian Twomey, before an error and a wild pitch brought in two more Flyer runs. Next, Constantine Coins singled to plate a fifth Lewis run, pulling the Flyers to within 8-7.

Crask-Weeks had an answer for the Lewis surge, however, as the left-hander came through with back-to-back strikeouts with the bases loaded to preserve the slim advantage. In the ninth, then junior registered two more punchouts to work around a two-out Daugherty single and secure his first save as a Panther.  

In addition to Crider's three-hit effort, the Panthers received an offensive lift from Miller (2-for-5), Schmitt (2-for-3) and McClure (2-for-3), who each logged multi-hit performances.

LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers and Flyers will square off again Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Mark Worley Field.

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