SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team dropped the opening game of its four-game weekend series against Drury 10-4 on Saturday evening at Mark Worley Field at Meador Park in Springfield, Mo. The Tritons fall to 17-16, 7-10 GLVC while the Panthers improve to 19-14, 9-4 GLVC.
All the scoring in this one came in the fourth and fifth innings.
UMSL took the lead with a run in the top of the fourth.
Cooper Blythe led off the inning with a single to center and advanced to second on
Braedon Stoakes sacrifice bunt. A single from
Barrett Rose put runners on the corner for
Andrew Buescher. Buescher brought home Blythe with a groundout to third.
Drury took advantage of four walks from Triton pitching to score four runs on two hits in the home half of the fourth.
UMSL tied the game with three runs in the fifth on RBI singles from
Noah Tomaras, Blythe and Rose. The Tritons had a chance to take the lead but a lineout to third and a strikeout ended the frame.
The Panthers sent 10 batters to the plate in the bottom of the frame scoring six runs on three hits to retake the lead. Jackson Crider had the big hit in the frame with a two-run double to right that made it 8-4. Gabe Russell followed with an RBI double scoring Crider and Russell scored when Hesston Gray struck out swinging but reached first on a wild pitch.
UMSL outhit Drury in the contest 10-9 and were led by Blythe with three hits while Rose added two more.
Will Newberry took the loss giving up four runs on a hit and two walks to fall to 0-1 on the season.
The Tritons and Drury continue their four-game series on Sunday with a single game scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
