The Patriots played their final game of the 2007 Southwest Diamond Classic on Saturday night against the Gonzaga Bulldogs.  Each team came into the game with a 1-1 record in the tournament, with Gonzaga defeating UTA and the Patriots defeating Houston. 

Gonzaga used 11 hits and two DBU errors to pick up their fourth win of the season beating DBU 6-4.  With the loss, DBU fell to 5-5, while the Bulldogs improved to 4-8 overall.

Gonzaga raced to an early 5-0 in the first three innings of play, chasing Patriots starting pitcher, Senior Jereme Wilson, out of the game.  The Bulldogs used five hits, including a two run homerun, and two Patriot errors to gain the early lead.

The Bulldogs padded their lead in the top of the fifth when the Patriots walked the first two batters of the inning and then loaded the bases on a single to right field.  Freshman Ryan Goins entered the game with no outs and worked his way out of the inning with a double play ball and a ground out to keep the lead at 6-0. 

The Patriots answered back in the bottom of the fifth when Senior Matt Tucker led off the inning with a double and advanced to third off a double by Sophomore Brandon Bantz.  Tucker scored on the next pitch when Sophomore Trevor Head hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field, which also allowed Knight to advance to third base.  Sophomore JT Bloodworth came to the plate with one out in the inning and drove an RBI single to center field to bring the score to 6-2 after five. 

DBU cut into the lead in the bottom half of the sixth when Junior Garrett Baker and Sophomore Evan Bigley started the inning off with two walks to bring up Santos , who advanced Baker to third on a deep fly ball to right field.  Baker then scored off a sacrifice fly by Tucker and Bigley scored off a two out RBI single by Bantz, which made the score 6-4 after six innings of play.  

Gonzaga then used two pitchers to shut down the Patriots in the final three innings of play, including right handed pitcher Shawn Wyatt to close out the game for the Bulldogs.  Wyatt was able to pick up his first save of the year by pitching 2.0 scoreless innings and allowing only one hit.  Picking up the win for the Bulldogs was Chris Highmark, who pitched 6.2 innings, allowed four earned runs, and struck out two Patriots. 

Picking up his second loss of the season was Wilson, who pitched 2.1 innings, allowed three earned runs, and had three strikeouts.  Freshman Ryan Goins pitched in relief for the Patriots and went 3.0 innings, allowing no runs. 

Leading DBU at the plate was Junior Matt Tucker, who went two for three, with an RBI and a run scored, while Sophomore Brand Bantz also had a two for three night, with one RBI.

Picking up All Tournament honors for the Patriots was Junior Austin Krum and Sophomore Jordan Meaker.

DBU, who finished the classic with a 1-2 record, will look to rebound from the tough weekend when they travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to take on Oklahoma State University, on Tuesday February 27, at 3:00.