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OZARK, Mo.- Drury erupted for seven runs on seven hits in the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie and win their opening round game 9-1 over Saint Joseph’s at U.S. Baseball Park in Ozark on Thursday.
The Panthers, the West Division champions in the GLVC, advance to Game Seven of the tournament with a 34-17 record. Drury will play Bellarmine at 4 p.m. on Friday. Saint Joseph’s drops to 32-19 and will face Missouri S&T at 9 a.m. on Friday in Game Five of the tournament.
Saint Joseph’s grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a solo home run by Jeff Hightower and the Pumas stayed in front until the fifth. Drury tied the game on a two-out, RBI double by Clayton Engel.
The Panthers then seized the lead and blew the game open an inning later. Drury loaded the bases on three consecutive singles and took the lead when Saint Joseph’s starting pitcher Quinn Snarskis was called for a balk. The Panthers followed that with a RBI single by Caleb Essick, a ground ball from Ethan Owens that drove in a run, a two-RBI double by Justin Abernathy, another double from Engel that produced a run and Nic Perkins’ second hit of the inning drove Engel home.
“Our guys were frustrated at the plate in the first couple of innings,” said Drury head coach Scott Nasby. “We made (Snarskis) pitch to what his strengths were but we put the ball in play, hit some choppers, some seeing eye dogs and then some good things happened when we hit the ball hard.”
Ryan Colombo (9-3) went all nine innings for the win allowing only one run on five scattered hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
“Colombo’s a competitor on the mound,” added Nasby. “He’s a bulldog and he didn’t leave too many balls up in the zone and we played great defense behind him.”
The Panthers will take on a Bellarmine team that defeated Missouri S&T 13-2 on Thursday morning.
