MARION, Ill.— Drury’s Cinderella run in the Great Lakes Valley Conference was halted in Sunday’s championship game as fifth-ranked and top-seeded Quincy handed the Panthers a 13-6 loss at Mountain Dew Park in Marion, Illinois.
Drury, the sixth seed in the tournament, ends the year with a 30-24 record. Quincy will go to the NCAA-II Tournament with an automatic berth at 44-9.
The Hawks started the game with three runs in the top of first and opened up the lead by posting six runs in the third inning.
Drury got on the board with two runs in the fifth, scoring on a Carson Shaver RBI double, then on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Bastunas.
Quincy, the top scoring offense in the GLVC that averaged more than nine runs per game, kept scoring and added two more in the sixth as well as a single run in the seventh and eighth to lead 13-2.
The Panthers put up four runs in the eighth, highlighted by Shaver’s bases-clearing double that drove in three, but the deficit was too much.
“If you want to beat Quincy, you have to out-pitch them and out-hit them and we weren’t able to do either of those things today,” said Drury head coach Scott Nasby. “We had a long night but a great night last night, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to carry that over to today.”
Jay Hammel (6-2) got the win for the Hawks while Drury starter Cade Waits (5-6) took the loss.
Shaver finished the game going 2 for 4 with two doubles and 4 RBI’s. Graydon Miller went 2 for 3 with two runs and a double.
Hawks DH Austin Simpson went 4 for 5 with 5 RBI’s and he hit his 17th home run of the year.
Drury entered the GLVC Tournament on a seven-game losing streak and was one out away from a loss in Thursday’s opening round as they trailed Maryville 3-1 when Brooks Sunny’s two-RBI single tied the game. The Panthers beat the Saints in 11 innings 6-3, then picked up a 12-4 win over William Jewell on Friday.
Drury had a late start to their game on Saturday as the first pitch was not until 9:40 pm, and in a game that lasted until 1:08 am on Sunday, the Panthers downed Indianapolis 11-4 avenging a loss earlier in the season to UIndy starter Brady Ware, who no-hit Drury while hitting for the cycle at the plate in the same game on April 7.
“I thought we brought some great energy into the tournament,” said Nasby. “We had some great performances offensively and on the mound and had a lot of positivity through the weekend.
“It was good to see some people step up like Graydon Miller, who hadn’t really played at all this year, but came through with some big hits when we needed them this weekend. Brooks Sunny continued to be a clutch player like he was all season, and it was good to see a senior, Carson Shaver, go out playing as well as he did today.”
Sunday’s championship marks the sixth time in program history the Panthers have reached the GLVC title game.
