DBU, who is hosting the 2007 Southwest Diamond Classic over the weekend, played a tough Missouri State team in their opening game on Thursday night, at 7:00.  The Patriots came into the game off a tough loss to the # 6 ranked Rice Owls this past, while it was Missouri State 's first game of the season. 

The Patriots started the game with Freshman Victor Black on the mound, while the Bears threw Junior Ross Deltwiller for his first start of the season.  Each pitcher had a no-hitter going threw three innings, when Junior Austin Krum broke up the no-no for Deltwiller, by driving a single to center field. 

Krum advanced to second base off a sacrifice bunt by Freshman Austin Knight and then to third base off a sacrifice fly by Junior Garrett Baker but was unable to score when Sophomore Evan Bigley lined out to centerfield.  After three innings of play the Patriots had one hit and one runner left on base. 

Missouri State's Drayden Blake led off the top of the fifth inning with a double to right field to break up the no hitter for Black.  Blake then advance to third off a ground out by Chris Taylor and scored on a double by the Bears first baseman Josh Mazzola.  Mazzola was then thrown out by Knight when he tried to stretch his double to a triple.  Black, who pitched a great game for the Patiots got the last out of the inning and kept the score 1-0 in favor of Missouri State .

Deltwiller held the Patriots scoreless until the bottom half of the seventh when Senior Garret Baker hit a solo home run to left field to tie the score 1-1.  Bigley then drew a walk with one out but was not able to advance any farther after two quick outs by Missouri State to end the inning with a tied score.

The Bears answered right back in the top of the eighth inning when Tann Mattson walked to lead off the inning and then advanced to second off a sacrifice bunt.  Freshman Ryan Millard, who took over on the mound for Black at the beginning of the inning got one more out, which brought up Nolan Keane.  Keane came through with a two out RBI single to give the Bears a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom half of the eighth.

Sophomore Brandon Bantz came up with one out in the bottom of the eighth and answered the call with a solo home run to left field to tie the score up for the Patriots.  Sophomore JT Bloodworth singled to centerfield and advanced to third off a single to leftfield by Knight, which brought up Baker, who ended the inning on a fly out to centerfield. 

Missouri State , who seemed to have an answer for everything the Patriots threw at them, scored the go ahead run in the top of the ninth after a lead off double by Kyle Paul, who advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt.  Paul then scored when Mazzola drove a pitch deep enough to centerfield for the RBI sacrifice fly, which gave the Bears the 3-2 lead and eventually the victory. 

With the win, Missouri State improved to 1-0, while DBU fell to 4-4 on the season.  Picking up his first win of the season in impressive fashion was Deltwiller, who pitched 7.0 innings, allowed two hits, and struck out 13 Patriots.  Freshman Ryan Millard picked up his second loss of the season, but pitching a strong game for DBU was Black, who pitched 7.0 innings, gave up four hits, and struck out eight Bears. 

Leading the Patriots at the plate was Baker who went one for three, with a homerun and an RBI.  The Bears were led by Josh Mazzola, who went one for three, with two RBI's. 

The Patriots will be in action again tomorrow night when they play the Houston Cougars at 7:00 right here at the Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco, Texas .