Springfield, Mo. -- The Lewis University baseball team avoided the series sweep with a 14-10 slugfest win against Drury University Sunday (Mar. 15).
The Flyers took one out of four against their GLVC counterparts and snapped the five-game losing skid by improving their overall record to 6-14 while the Panthers, who were ranked within the top 10 in the NCBWA Midwest Region Poll, dropped their record to 12-8.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a leadoff double by Drury's Luke Matschiner down the left field line in the bottom of the first inning, Jackson Crider put the Panthers on the board up 2-0 in the first frame with a two run home run.
Senior Jayden Gonzalez (Chicago, Ill.) opened the top of the second for the Flyers by getting hit by a pitch to get on as the leadoff runner. A double steal later in the inning allowed Gonzalez to advance to third and then score on a throwing error to make it 2-1. Junior Cole Clemens (Marco Island, Flo.) knocked in another run for Lewis to tie it at 2-2 with an RBI double afterwards.
Clemens collected his second RBI of the game in the top of the fourth inning with a single up the middle while soon scoring himself on a groundout to push the score to 4-2. Junior Tylor Phommachanhom (Plainfield, Ill/Parkland CC) came around to score after freshman Jimmy Spellman (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame College of Prep) got on with a hit to second base to add another insurance run at 5-2.
Gonzalez got on again to start the top of fifth for Lewis with a single, while another single from senior Daniel O'Brien (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic) brought him in to push the score to 6-2 and forced a Drury pitching change.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth for the Panthers, a hit by pitch for Greydon Miller allowed the first of four runs to come across for Drury. A Lewis pitching change occurred but it didn't stop the Panthers from bringing runs across as Carter Wambach brought in two runs with a double and a sacrifice fly from Jackson Edwards tied the game at 6-6.
The Flyers bounced back by retaking the lead in the top of the sixth with Phommachanhom getting on to start the inning with a single to center. After back to back walks, Drury changed pitchers and junior Kyle Peterson (Orland Park, Ill/Carl Sandburg) brought in Phommachanhom with a fielder's choice on the play which made it 7-6. Gonzalez and O'Brien both produced RBI singles to bring freshman Constantine Coins and Peterson in, and the Flyers jumped back ahead in the inning 9-6.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Panthers got one back as the inning started with a leadoff walk for Connor Bain who worked his way around the bases on outs until he scored on a wild pitch from third base to decrease the deficit to 9-7.
Garrett Anderson entered the game to pitch for the Panthers in the top of the eighth inning and set the stage for a big offensive showing from the Flyers who put up three on a three run homer from Phommachanhom that extended the Lewis lead to 12-7.
The Lewis hitters used a Drury pitching change to score once again to start the top of the ninth inning with Peterson and Gonzalez both getting into scoring position at second and third for sophomore Chris Daugherty (Chicago, Ill/Brother Rice). Daugherty brought both runners in on a base hit and advanced to second on an error which made the difference seven runs at 14-7.
Drury didn't go down quietly though in the bottom of the ninth as three runs came across on two hits by Miller and Landon Willbrand. Junior Seth Nanna (Carmel, Ind/Westfield) secured the win by going 0.2 innings of work while allowing a hit and no runs, while freshman Rowan Smyth (Evergreen Park, Ill./Evergreen Park) earned a save by going 0.2 innings himself in the ninth to close it out at 14-10 for Lewis.
UP NEXT
The Flyers will return home to Romeoville, Illinois this week when they take on another GLVC opponent, the William Jewell College (Mo.) Cardinals. The first game of the four game series set is slated to start at 2:00PM CST on Friday (Mar. 20) while the other series games will take part over that weekend.
