SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Connor Bain drove in a career-best six runs to help Drury baseball score 10 of the final 11 runs en route to a 14-7 comeback victory over Upper Iowa that completed a four-game Great Lakes Valley Conference series sweep of the Peacocks Sunday afternoon on Mark Worley Field at Meador Park.
Bain's three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning erased a 6-4 Upper Iowa lead and put the Panthers on top to stay. The senior outfielder added a run-scoring hit in Drury's five-run sixth, then plated two more with a two-out single in the seventh to help ice the victory -- as well as a series sweep that moved the Panthers into a four-way tie for the No. 2 position in the GLVC regular-season standings.
After going homerless in each of the first three games of the series, Drury (26-16, 17-7 GLVC) powered up to club three round-trippers in the finale, including Bain's 21st career home run with one out in the fifth that put DU on top, 7-6. Jackson Crider opened the scoring with a two-run shot in the first, moments after Luke Matschiner led off the game by drawing a walk and swiping second for his 26th steal of the season.
Upper Iowa (15-24, 8-14 GLVC) took advantage of four early walks and two more free passes via hit-by-pitches to produce matching two-run rallies in the second and third frames for a 4-2 lead. But Drury starter Markell Dixon and reliever Hayden Linton limited the damage, with Dixon inducing an inning-ending double play in the first and Linton using a strikeout and an infield pop-up to strand the bases loaded in the third, keeping the Panthers within two runs.
Greydon Miller's two-out, two-run homer leveled the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the third, and Linton worked a scoreless fourth, before UIU surged into the lead once more in the fifth, using Cael Luzum's RBI-grounder and a Thane Meiners sac fly to grab a two-run cushion.
The Panthers drew a pair of walks to set up Bain's go-ahead homer in the fifth -- a first-pitch blast that cleared the wall in right to put DU in the lead for good.
Drury iced the win with a back-breaking two-out rally in the sixth, plating all five runs after Tyler Glowacki (0-1) retired the first two hitters of the inning. Crider was hit by a pitch for the 51st time in his career, tying the Panthers' program record, before Bain drove in the first run of the rally with a base hit to right.
Carter Wambach kept the momentum going with a two-run single, and Xander Schmitt brought in two runs with his double to left-center for a 12-6 Drury advantage. An inning later, Bain completed the scoring with another two-out hit for his fifth and sixth RBIs of the afternoon.
Porter Slattery (1-0) and two additional Drury relievers -- Joey Funk and Coleman Morrison -- combined to limit the Peacocks to one run over the final five innings. Slattery permitted just one hit in his 2.0 scoreless innings to notch his first win as a Panther, and Funk and Morrison teamed up to work the final three innings.
Bain turned in a 3-for-4 day at the plate to lead Drury, while both Crider and Miller added multi-hit and multi-RBI efforts. Crider (2-for-4) scored three runs to go along with his two-run homer, and Miller (2-for-4) drove in a pair of runs as well. Schmitt contributed a pair of RBIs while finishing 1-for-3 with two of Drury's nine walks on the day.
LOOKING AHEAD
Drury continues its final home stand of the season next weekend with a four-game GLVC series against Rockhurst, beginning Friday (April 24) with a 5 p.m. contest at Mark Worley Field at Meador Park.
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