The Patriots from Dallas Baptist University played the University of Houston Cougars in their second round game of the 2007 Southwest Diamond Classic on Friday night.   The Patriots lost their first round game 4-3 to Missouri State , while Houston defeated UTSA, 12-10 in their first game of the classic.

DBU jumped out to an early start when starting pitcher Sophmore Jordan Meaker got a three up three down top of the first inning, giving the Patriots momentum going into the bottom half of the inning.  Junior Austin Krum led off the inning with a single and advance to second after Freshman Austin Knight singled up the middle, which brought up Junior Garret Baker.  Baker managed a walk to load the bases up for Sophomore Evan Bigley. 

Bigley hit a little dribbler in the infield but got a enough on it for Krum to score the first run of the game.  Junior Nick Santos then came up and reached on an error, which loaded the bases for Senior Matt Tucker.  Tucker hit a laser to left field for a two RBI single, which gave DBU a 3-0 lead after one inning of play. 

The Cougars finally broke through in the top of the fourth when they managed to get two hits off of Meaker, who had allowed not hits through the first three innings.  Houston's Jimmy Cesario drove a single up the middle and then scored when Josh Stirneman hit a single to left field.  Bigley misplayed the baseball, which allowed Cesario to score from first base and bring the score to 3-1 in favor of DBU. 

The Patriots answered back in the bottom half of the fourth, when Sophomore JT Bloodworth slapped a double to right center field and advanced to third on a pass ball.  Krum then came up with one out and drove a triple deep over the centerfielder's head to score Bloodworth.  Krum then scored on a sacrifice fly by Knight, to bring the score to 5-1 after four innings.

The Cougars scored their second run of the game in the top of the sixth inning when Felix Fanaselle doubled and advanced to third on a fly out to right field.  Fanaselle scored when Stirneman came up and hit his second RBI single of the game.  Meaker ended the inning on the next batter when he struck out his 12^th Cougar of the night. 

Meaker left the game after seven strong innings in the hands of Junior Brett Lester, who was looking for his first save of the season.  Lester was not able to complete the save when Houston started off the top of the eighth inning with a walk and a single to bring up Cesario, who hit a three run home run to tie the game 5-5 heading into the bottom half of the eighth.

In the bottom half of the eighth Bloodworth reached on an error and then advanced to second after Krum walked.  Each runner then advanced a base on a pass ball, while Knight was at the plate.  Knight then walked to load the bases for Baker, who grounded to third base but the third baseman threw the ball into right field, allowing Krum and Knight to score the go ahead runs. 

Senior Randall Taylor finished off the Cougars in the top of the ninth by strking out two of three batters he faced.  With the one, two, three inning Taylor picked up his first win of the season.  Meaker ended the night with 13 strikeouts and one earned run in 7.0 innings pitched. 

Juniors Austin Krum and Nick Santos led the Patriots at the plate tonight, with Krum going three for three, with three runs scored, while Santos went two for four with one RBI. 

With the win DBU improved to 5-4 overall, while Houston fell to 5-5. 

The Patriots will finish up the Southwest Diamond Classic, when they take on Gonzaga University tomorrow night, at 7:00.