ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team dropped the first two games of its Great Lakes Valley Conference opening series to Drury 11-1 in seven innings and 3-1 on Saturday afternoon at the Lou Brock Sports Complex in St. Charles, Mo.

Game 1 – Drury 11 UMSL 1 7 innings
The Panthers (4-7, 2-0 GLVC) jumped out to the early lead scoring three runs on three hits in the first inning. Max Elmer led off the game with a walk, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Wes Collins single to right. Tyler Bastunas made it 2-0 with a single through the left side of the infield and Kaden Byrne drove in the third run with a bases load walk.

Drury added two more in the second. Brandon Holdren drove in Elmer with a ground out to first and Collins scored on a wild pitch.

The Tritons (8-7, 0-2 GLVC) lone run came in the third. Braedon Stoakes led off the inning with a triple to left center and scored on Barrett Rose's groundout to first.

The Panthers added two in the fourth, two more in the fifth and single tallies in the sixth and seventh innings for the final margin.

UMSL had seven hits in the contest with Stoakes, Rose, Andrew Buescher, Garrett Strenger, Dane Stevenson, Justin Simard and Kameron Laskowski having one apiece. Garrett Brunstetter got the start on the mound giving up five runs, four earned, on four hits but walked five in 1.2 innings pitched to drop to 1-2 on the season.

Game 2 – Drury 3 UMSL 1
The Tritons got a lead-off single from Stoakes to start the contest. He advanced all the way to third but was left standed.

Drury took the lead in the second on Luke Burk's solo home run to left center with one out in the inning.

The pitchers dominated the next three innings as there was a total of two hits.

The Panthers extended its lead in the sixth. Elmer led off the inning with a double down the left field line and scored on Collins single down the right field line. Collins scored later in the inning on Burk's single to center.

Simard led off the bottom of the sixth with a double down the left field to snap a string of 15 straight UMSL hitters retired. Simard made it to third but was erased on a fielder's choice at the plate for the second out of the inning. Buescher drove in Stoakes with a single to left to make it 3-1. The Tritons had the tying runs on base but a groundout back to the mound ended the inning.

UMSL was retired in order in the seventh to end the contest.

The Tritons finished with three hits in the nightcap with Stoakes, Buescher and Simard registering one each. RJ Elmore threw a complete game in the contest allowing three runs on five hits with five strikeouts to fall to 1-2 on the year.

UMSL and Drury conclude their four-game series on Sunday with another doubleheader starting at noon at the UMSL Baseball Field.