OZARK, Mo. – The University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team (0-7) struggled on offense and dropped a 4-1 nonconference decision to Drury (4-6) on Sunday afternoon at US Baseball Field.

After USF took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, Drury, which has won four straight games, rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and held off the Cougars for a 4-1 victory.

Freshman Brandon Roesler (0-2) started for USF and worked 4 2/3 innings before he ran into problems in the fifth inning. On the day, he allowed four runs on five hits with four walks in his second career start. Junior left-hander Christian Lazar spelled him in relief, allowing two hits over 2/3 of an inning. Sophomore Keenan Coyle worked 2/3 of an inning, allowing no runs and two walks. Spencer Dokken, also a junior left-hander, worked the final 2 1/3 innings as he allowed just one hit while registering a walk and strikeout.

Freshman shortstop Grant Lung had two hits in three at bats with an RBI to lead USF. Lung's RBI in the third inning ended a 29 2/3 inning scoreless drought by the Cougars. Brent Jarvis, Josh Rehwaldt, Dylan Davin and Connor Merriam also had base hits.

USF will look to snap out of a seven-game losing streak when the Cougars travel to Golden, Colo., on March 13-14 for a three-game series with Colorado School of Mines.

This weekend, the Cougars had issues generating offense but the pitching staff was solid. Over the past four games, the Cougars recorded a 3.27 earned run average with 14 strikeouts in 33 innings. However, USF hit just .172 over the four-game span and were unable to come up with an extra base hit. In the four games in Missouri, Lung hit .364 while Josh Rehwaldt had a .357 average.

On Sunday, DU used six pitchers, including starter Avering Jennings, who allowed one hit and one run with three walks and a strikeout over three innings. Ryan Wedermyer (1-0) picked up the victory as he allowed just one hit while recording a strikeout in 2 1/3 innings in relief of Jennings. Nick Costantino worked a perfect ninth as he earned his first save.

Game Breakdown –
In the third inning, junior Ryan Bernardy walked, stole second base and scored on a RBI single by Lung for a 1-0 lead. USF loaded the bases on walks to Jarvis and Rehwaldt but couldn't push across any more runs in the inning.

DU rallied to tie the game in the fifth with a one-out RBI single by Caleb Essick plating Will Sachs. Clayton Engel followed with a two-run single to right field to break the tie and Brandt Ollinger added a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 4-1.