SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Drury baseball celebrated its first 20 years in style Saturday afternoon, bouncing back from a series-opening setback against Rockhurst to sweep a pivotal Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader from the Hawks. The Panthers claimed a 2-1 pitcher's duel in game one, before their offense roared to life in a 14-3 win in the nightcap to tie a bow on a memorable Alumni Day on Mark Worley Field at Meador Park.
Anthony Vita turned in his third-consecutive complete-game victory to lift the Panthers to the one-run win in game one, fanning six Hawks while allowing just two hits over the seven-inning contest.
Drury rode another strong mound effort and a 14-run, 15-hit outburst to a game-two victory. Caden Crask-Weeks worked six strong innings, allowing two runs on four hits to earn his second-straight mound win, while the top four hitters in the Panthers lineup combined to go 9-for-14 with nine RBIs and nine runs scored.
Logan Reidelberger reached base safely in each of his first six plate appearances on the afternoon and finished the day 5-for-7, while Connor Bain matched a career high with six RBIs in game two.
Game 1 - Drury 2, Rockhurst 1
Vita (6-0) held the Hawks hitless through 5 1/3 innings and scoreless until Dakota Hanna's two-out solo shot in the seventh. The left-hander struck out six hitters in running his GLVC record to 6-0 with a 1.66 ERA over seven league outings.
Reidelberger led the Panthers (28-17, 19-8 GLVC) with hits in each of his three trips to the plate, including a first-inning double that sparked a two-out rally that resulted in the first Drury run of the afternoon. After Rockhurst starting pitcher Brendan Rodis (5-4) retired the first two hitters of the game, Reidelberger lined a 2-0 pitch into the gap in left-center, then moved to third on a wild pitch. Bain's bouncer to shortstop was misplayed for an error, allowing Reidelberger to trot home for a 1-0 DU lead.
Reidelberger added his second hit of the day in the third as part of a string of three-straight Drury hits. Jackson Crider led off the frame with a double to right-center, before Reidelberger singled to right and Bain drove home the second DU tally with his RBI-single to left.
That would be all the run support Vita would need. After dispatching the first five RU hitters of the day, the freshman issued a two-out walk to Avery Garmon, then promptly picked the runner off first to end the second. He issued a leadoff walk the following inning, but sat down the next three hitters to kick off a string of 10-straight retired.
The Hawks' first hit came on a Peyton Clerk hot shot that glanced off Vita's glove for an infield single. Josh Syfert then coaxed a walk to put a pair of Hawks aboard, but Vita induced a 4-6-3 double-play grounder to end the threat.
Hanna broke up Vita's streak of 20 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings with his 10th home run of the season to slice the lead in half. But Vita slammed the door for the final out -- and his sixth-straight win -- by getting Garmon on a grounder to second.
Reidelberger finished 3-for-3 with his 19th and 20th doubles of the season, moving the senior to within one of the program's single-season record that is currently shared by Clayton Engel and R.J. Knese with 21.
Game 2 - Drury 14, Rockhurst 3
Like Vita in the opener, Crask-Weeks (2-3) came through with a big-game effort on the mound to give the Panthers' offense time to click. The left-hander allowed just one run on a pair of hits over the first four innings and finished the afternoon with four strikeouts, while scattering four hits and five walks in his 6.0 frames.
Unlike its results over the first two games of the series, the Drury offense struck early and often in the third contest of the weekend, led once again by Reidelberger and Bain. DU used back-to-back hits by Luke Matschiner and Crider to spark a first-inning rally, and Reidelberger promptly put the Panthers on top with his RBI-single to right-center off Rockhurst right-hander Keller Costello (5-1).
The Panthers turned the tide for good with a four-run rally in the third, with Matschiner, Crider and Reidelberger all reaching base safely to open the inning. Bain then belted his 10th home run of the season -- a three-run blast to left that gave DU a 5-1 cushion.
Colin McClure's leadoff homer to start the fourth kick-started the Drury offense once again, with Reidelberger driving home a second run with another single, before Bain plated a third in the inning with a sacrifice liner to left for an 8-1 advantage.
After the Hawks (28-15, 16-11 GLVC) scratched out a single run in the top of the fifth, DU put the game away with its biggest rally of the weekend -- a five-run surge that gave it a 13-2 lead. Jackson Edwards' leadoff double started the outburst, and Matschiner produced the first run with a base hit through the left side. Crider's second hit of the game set up Bain's two-run double to right, before Greydon Miller made it an 11-run bulge with his RBI-single.
Xander Schmitt completed the Drury scoring ledger with a leadoff homer in the sixth -- the third Panther round-tripper of the contest.
Matschiner led Drury with a 3-for-4 effort and three runs scored, while Bain added a 2-for-3 performance and drove in six runs in a game for the second time in the last four contests. Both Crider and Reidelberger finished with multi-hit games as well.
LOOKING AHEAD
Drury and Rockhurst will play the final game of the series Sunday at Noon, with the Panthers set to honor their 16 graduating players during Senior Day festivities prior to first pitch at approximately 11:40 a.m.
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