Box Score
The Patriot Baseball Team took on the #6 Rice Owls on Wednesday night and with the score tied 6-6 in the bottom of the 12th inning; Senior Drew Pirtle stepped to the plate. Pirtle blasted the first pitch he saw from Matt Evers over the right field wall to give the Patriots a 7-6 walk off victory. DBU with the win, improved to 6-3 overall, while Rice fell to 6-4.
Rice raced out to the early 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning after lead off hitter Jared Gayhart hit a dink single to reach base and advanced to second on a single by Chad Mozingo. The Owls advanced the runner to third base on a fielder's choice and then a pass ball allowed the first run of the inning to score. Starting pitcher Sophomore Victor Black then walked the next batter and two throwing errors by the Patriots on a ground ball to first base, allowed the last two runs to score.
The Patriots cut the lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the first inning, after Sophomore Ryan Enos led off with a single to left field. Sophomore Austin Knight moved him to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs in the inning, Junior Trevor Head hit an RBI single to left field, which allowed Enos to score.
The Owls pushed their lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the second inning off of a walk and then a perfectly executed hit and run to advance the base runner to third base. Rice then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score the lone run of the inning.
Rice added another run in the top of the third inning off three more hits and a walk. The score heading into the middle half of the third was 5-1.
Knight led the bottom of the fifth inning off with a walk, which brought up Junior Evan Bigley. Bigley did not waste anytime and hit the second pitch he saw over the left field wall, to cut the Owls lead to 5-3.
The Owls managed to score another run in the top of the seventh inning after they loaded the bases up and hit an sacrifice RBI fly to left field, which made the score 6-3.
DBU tied the Owls 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh inning after Knight led off with a walk, advanced to second on a bunt single by Krizan, and scored on an RBI single by Head. Krizan and Head then advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, which brought up Goins, who hit an RBI ground ball to first base. Head moved over to third on the ground ball and with two outs in the inning, Sophomore Ryan Thompson drove in Head on an RBI single up the middle.
The Patriots used three pitchers in relief on Tuesday night, which all three combined to pitch 7.0 innings, allowing one run, on three hits and striking out eight Owls. Senior Tyson Bagley led the charge after he went 3.0 innings, allowing two hits, and striking out four, while Senior Brett Lester picked up the victory when he pitched his way through the 12th inning, allowing no hits and striking out one batter.
Enos and Bantz led the way at the plate, with each batter knocking out three hits, while Head went two for six, with two RBI and a run scored. Pirtle, who came in as a pinch hitter finished his night one for two, with an RBI, and a run scored.
The Patriots will look to continue their winning ways on Thursday night, when they travel to Arlington, Texas, to take on UTA, at 6:30.
