Blake Evans Mike Tettamble Ricky Meinhold Justin Skinner

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To label the Drury Panthers’ 2007 season – their
first intercollegiate competition in more than three
decades – as a storybook finish might still not do
it justice.
Consider: The Panthers had just two seniors on a
squad chocked full of some 23 freshmen. They’d
never taken the field together before. They were
about to begin competition in a Great Lakes Valley
Conference noted for its competitive baseball
squads, and as a result, were picked for last (14th)
when the coaches got together and formed their
preseason poll.
But those other league coaches, while assuming
Drury had talent, also greatly underestimated the
competitive fire of this bunch of Panthers. They
apparently were unaware that, when kids come
from decorated prep programs like Hillcrest, Republic,
Glendale, Kickapoo, Lee’s Summit, etc.,
they learned how to win a lot more often than they
did to lose.
And it showed in the final results for Coach Mark
Stratton’s Panthers, who fashioned a 33-24 overall
mark and a 22-14 record in GLVC play (good for
third place in the regular season), saving some of
their best efforts for the league’s top dogs – chiefly,
a double-header sweep of eventual NCAA-II World
Series qualifier Southern Indiana on May 5 before
a large, appreciative home crowd at Meador Park.
That regular season success, in itself, would have
been enough to label this inaugural season a
smashing hit … but the Panthers had much more
in store.
They journeyed to Sauget, Ill,
for the six-team GLVC Tournament
as the No. 3 seed, and
by the time the weekend was
finished, the Panthers had
swept through the field for a
4-0 mark and were hoisting
the GLVC trophy to the delight
of their giddy fans.
And when DU fans start recollecting
the memories from
that first effort, several will
undoubtedly stick out.
Drury Panther Baseball 2008
SEASON REVIEW 2007
PANTHERS MAKE BIG SPLASH IN INAUGURAL CAMPAIGN
2007 Great Lakes Valley Conference Baseball Standings
Team W L T Pct W L T Pct
SIU Edwardsville 26 10 0 .722 37 17 0 .685
Southern Indiana 24 15 0 .615 43 23 0 .652
Drury 22 14 0 .611 33 24 0 .579
Bellarmine 23 15 0 .605 29 30 0 .492
Saint Joseph’s 22 15 0 .595 30 21 0 .588
Indianapolis 22 16 0 .579 29 27 0 .518
Northern Kentucky 22 16 0 .579 27 26 0 .509
Quincy 21 16 0 .568 30 20 0 .600
Rockhurst 18 18 0 .500 25 25 0 .500
Missouri-St. Louis 16 20 0 .444 20 24 0 .455
UW-Parkside 14 21 0 .400 19 29 0 .396
Missouri-Rolla 13 24 0 .351 20 27 0 .426
Kentucky Wesleyan 12 26 0 .316 16 40 0 .286
Lewis 5 34 0 .128 8 47 0 .145
*The gutty nine innings junior lefty Ricky Meinhold
turned in, locked in a pitcher’s duel with Bellarmine,
before freshman Harrison Waters ended the classic
contest with a walk-off, solo homer in the bottom of
the 10th. By the way, Waters’ first ball out of the park
all season.
*Junior Justin Skinner’s two-out, two-run double in
the bottom of the ninth to lift DU to a 5-4 victory
over SIU Edwardsville to knock the league’s regular
season champ out of the tournament.
*And, in the topper of them all, Skinner’s dramatics
in the title game vs. Bellarmine (again). Trying
to protect a 2-1 lead in the ninth, he trotted in from
his second base position, took the mound in his dual
role as closer with Knights at second and third and
nobody out, and amazingly, struck out three straight
BU hitters to touch off a celebration
that lasted for hours.
That meant the Panthers were
off to Akron, Ohio, recipients
of the automatic bid to the
NCAA-II North Central Regional
and immediately dubbed
the sixth-seed in a six-team
tournament. All Drury did was
come out and have top-seed –
and national power – Grand
Valley State down 4-1 after
scoring three times in the top