SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis baseball team snapped an eight-game losing streak with a 4-2 win against Drury on Sunday afternoon at Mark Worley Field at Meador Park in Springfield, Mo. The Tritons improve to 18-16, 8-10 GLVC while the Panthers drop to 19-15, 9-5 GLVC.
Bryce Nicolay led the way tossing a complete game allowing two runs, one earned, on eight hits with seven punchouts to improve to 3-1 on the season. He needed just 107 pitches in his complete game effort and got 12 outs in the air and six on the ground.
The game was scoreless until the fourth. With one out,
Mitch Bonczkowski tripled to left center and scored on
Cade Grevengoed's single up the middle.
Drury tied the game in the home half of the frame taking advantage of two UMSL errors. Gabe Russell reached on an error to start the inning and scored on Landon Willbrand's sacrifice fly to right later in the frame.
The Tritons retook the lead in the seventh. Grevengoed led off the inning with a triple to right center and scored on
Luke Saxton's sacrifice fly to left.
The Panthers answered right back in their half of the seventh. Luke Matschiner led off the inning with a bunt single and stole second. Conner Flieg singled to Nicolay and Matschiner scored from second on the play to tie the game. Nicolay got out of the inning by getting Wyatt Morgan to hit into a double play and got Jackson Crider swinging to keep the game tied.
UMSL loaded the bases thanks to a single and two walks with one out in the eighth. A passed ball by Kaden Byrne allowed
Cooper Blythe to score the go-ahead run. Bonczkowski hit a sacrifice fly to center to bring home
Braedon Stoakes with the second run of the stanza.
Drury got two singles in the home half of the ninth and brought the winning run to the plate but Nicolay struck out Flieg and Morgan to end the game.
The Tritons had six hits in the contest and were led by Grevengoed with two while Blythe, Stoakes, Bonczkowski and
Andrew Buescher had one each.
UMSL and the Panthers wrap up their four-game series with a doubleheader on Monday afternoon starting at noon at Mark Worley Field at Meador Park.
