HAMMOND, Ind. - The Davenport baseball team reached the 30-win plateau for the seventh straight season on Sunday with an 11-3 win over Purdue Northwest to wrap up the regular season. In their first season in the GLIAC, the Panthers finished in second place (20-8) just one game behind Northwood. The Panthers will be the two-seed in the upcoming GLIAC Tournament which begins on Thursday, May 10 in Detroit at The Corner Ballpark. The field is on the historic corner of Michigan and Trumbull which was the site for Tiger Stadium.

Pete Zeimis got his first start of the season after 15 relief appearances and went six innings to get the win (3-2). Zeimis allowed four hits and three earned runs with a walk and strikeout. Evan Maize threw in the seventh and eighth and allowed just one hit with three strikeouts. He put together a great freshman season with a 3-0 record and 3.46 ERA in 14 relief apperances. Jacob Buchberger made his first appearance on the mound in the ninth and faced four batters.

Chad Patrick took the loss for Purdue Northwest (18-25, 8-19 GLIAC) going 6.1 innings. He allowed six hits and seven runs (three earned) with three walks and five strikeouts. Kyle Flessner threw 0.2 innings and allowed four runs (no earned) with three hits, two walks and a strikeout.

The game was a 3-2 lead for the Pride entering the top of the seventh when the Panthers scored nine times to pull away. In the first inning, DU scored twice as Brian Sobieski had a RBI single and Buchberger had a sacrifice fly. Hunter Thorn drove in two of his team's three runs in the bottom of the first off Zeimis.

In the seventh inning, the Panthers used three errors by Purdue Northwest and five hits to score their nine runs. Anthony DiPonio drew a bases loaded walk during the inning and that's when Flessner relieved Patrick. Nolan Bryant greeted him with an infield single for an RBI and advanced to second on a throwing error. Sobieski had a RBI single to third base and Austin Petravicius had a two-RBI single.

Davenport left four runners on base compared to three for the Pride. Buchberger finished 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Petravicius scored twice and had a stolen base. DiPonio went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a walk. Sobieski went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI.