KANSAS CITY, Mo.— Drury put up 27 runs on 23 hits in game two of their doubleheader at Rockhurst to come away with a split against the Hawks at Loyola Park in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday. The Panthers lost game one 7-2 but quickly avenged the defeat with a 27-12 victory in the second game.
Drury moved to 7-10 on the season and 6-8 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, while Rockhurst went to 11-8 and 8-7 in the league.
In game one, the Panthers could not dig out of a 4-0 hole after allowing two runs in the second and two more in the third. Drury got a run in the fourth on an RBI-double by Clayton Engel, who then smacked another double to drive in the Panthers’ second run of the game two innings later.
Leading 4-2, however, Rockhurst opened up the lead with three runs in the fifth and closed out the game to take the first half of the doubleheader 7-2. Jake Eisenbarger (4-1) got the win for the Hawks as he pitched a complete game giving up four hits and two earned runs, with four walks and 10 strikeouts. Kaden Helsel (0-1) took the loss for Drury.
The Panthers scored 10 runs in the first inning on their way to a 27-12 win in game two. Drury’s 27 runs were two shy of a program record that came on March 11, 2008, when the Panthers put up 29 runs against Southwest Baptist.
The Panthers tied a team record with 24 RBI’s in the game as nine different players drove in a run and eight different Drury players had a multi-RBI game.
Drury’s 10-run opening frame was highlighted by a pair of three-run homers, one by Carson Shaver and another from Aaron Mann.
Mann led the team with five runs batted in as the Little Rock, Arkansas native went 2 for 4 at the plate and scored three times. DJ McNew went 3 for 4 with four runs scored and two base-on-balls.
Hunter Becker (1-2) got the win for Drury.
Drury and Rockhurst conclude their four-game series tomorrow at noon at Loyola Park in Kansas City.
