Box Score

DBU's Baseball Team welcomed the UTA Mavericks to Patriot Field for their first home game of the 2007 season on Thursday night.  The Patriots were able to pull out a tough 3-2 victory off great pitching and some key defensive plays in the field.  With the win, DBU improved to 6-6, while UTA fell to 4-9 on the season.

The Patriots led off the bottom of the second inning with two consecutive singles by Sophomore Evan Bigley and Senior Matt Tucker to begin the scoring for DBU.  Each player advanced a base off a ground out by Junior Nick Santos and Bigley scored when Sophomore Will Stramp singled to left field.  Tucker then scored off a sacrifice fly by Sophomore Brandon Bantz, to bring the score to 2-0 after two innings of play.

DBU padded their lead in the bottom of the third inning when Sophomore JT Bloodworth led off the inning with a double to left field and advanced third off a pass ball.  Freshman Austin Knight then scored Bloodworth when he grounded out to second base, giving the Patriots a 3-0 lead.

The Mavericks cut the Patriots lead in the top of the fifth inning when they led the inning off with a walk and a double.  UTA then scored their run off a ground out to the shortstop cutting the lead to 3-1.

UTA threatened in the top of the sixth by starting the inning off with a double and two walks to load the bases up for UTA shortstop Kyle Rudy.  Freshman Victor Black, who made the start for the Patriots, forced Rudy to ground into a double play, which allowed only one run to cross the plate and bring the score to 3-2. 

The Patriots threw three different pitchers at the Mavericks, who combined to hold them to two runs on five hits.  Black started the game and picked up his second win of the season by pitching 5.2 innings and striking out six Mavericks.  Freshman Ryan Goins then pitched 1.2 innings, allowed no runs, one hit, and closing the game out for his first save of the season was Senior Randall Taylor, who pitched 1.2 innings, allowing no runs, and striking out three.

Bigley and Bloodworth led the Patriots at the plate by both going one for three with a run scored.  Stramp also contributed with a hit and an RBI, while Knight and Bantz picked up the other two RBI for the Patriots.

DBU will look to win back to back games on Friday night, when they welcome New Mexico State University to Patriot Field for a 7:00 start.