Luke Burnidge twirled a three-hit shutout in a 3-0 decision over William Jewell, giving Drury a split of its Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader Saturday in the first games played at the refurbished U.S. Baseball Park.
The Cardinals took the opening nine-inning contest by a 2-0 score at the former home of the Ozark Mountain Ducks in the early 2000s, when it was known as Price-Cutter Park – and before it underwent an estimated $2.5 million makeover this spring that includes a full artificial turf surface and large, dynamic videoboard/scoreboard.
The Panthers (12-20, 4-6 in the GLVC) and Cardinals (20-11, 6-4) will play another twinbill starting at noon on Sunday at U.S. Baseball Park to wrap up the four-game league set.
Burnidge went the distance in the seven-inning nightcap to improve to 2-5 on the season, striking out seven while walking four. He surrendered just a single in the first, a triple in the second and a single in the sixth in his best outing of the season.
Drury picked up all the offense it would need in a three-run second, when Ryan Kayhill doubled and came home on a sacrifice bunt, and Justin Abernathy and Ryan Colombo followed shortly afterward with RBI singles for the 3-0 lead that stood the rest of the way.
Kayhill and Colombo had two hits each as part of Drury's seven-hit effort in the second game.
In the opener, William Jewell's Austin Kretchmar (6-1) pitched a complete-game, seven-hit shutout in a 2-0 triumph, striking out five and walking one. He made a tough-luck loser out of Colombo (3-4), who also went the nine-inning distance, and struck out nine, walked none while also allowing seven hits.
The Cardinals scratched across single runs in the fourth and ninth innings for the victory.
Colombo and Devan O'Bryan had two hits each in the opener for the Panthers.
