Box Score

Thanks to a shut down pitching performance and an offensive explosion, the DBU Patriot Baseball Team opened the 2014 season with a 19-0 win over Mississippi Valley State University, Friday night at Horner Ballpark.
 
Eight different players registered hits for the DBU club, led by four from Camden Duzenack. The freshman also tallied three runs batted in, scoring four times. Paul Voelker started and earned the win for the Patriots on the mound, throwing five shutout innings, surrendering just two hits, while striking out seven.
 
"Paul (Voelker) did a great job tonight," said DBU Head Coach Dan Heefner following the win. "Tonight, on opening night, to be as composed as he was, it was really good."
 
The Patriots opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, as KJ Alexander hit a sacrifice fly, scoring RJ Talamantes, who opened the inning reaching on a walk. The home club added three more in the second inning, starting with an RBI double by Duzenack, scoring Nash Knight. Mike Wesolowski and Austin Listi each followed with RBI singles, running the score to 4-0.
 
Things didn't slow down for DBU, as Daniel Salters opened the third with a triple, scoring on a Knight groundout. Trevin Sonnier followed by taking a pitch off the elbow, stealing second and third, and scoring on a Duzenack ground out. Talamantes singled next, followed by a Wesolowski double to send the DBU left fielder home, extending the lead to 7-0.
 
Knight was responsible for two more runs the fourth, drilling the first home run of the season, scoring Salters, who had previously reached on a dropped pop up by MVSU second baseman Chris McWright. The Patriots added a single run in the fifth on a fielder's choice by Alexander, scoring Duzenack.
 
The Patriots added four more runs in the sixth, following with their lone scoreless inning in the seventh before pushing across five more in the eighth, thanks in large part to a base-clearing, three RBI double from Justin Wall.
 
Wesolowski earned three hits in three official plate appearances, adding two RBI and a run scored. Knight and Wall each had a pair of hits, each earning three RBI and scoring twice. Alexander got in on the attack, walking three times and earning three RBI.
 
"The team did well with situational hitting," added the DBU skipper. "That is something this team will have to do a good job with."
 
The DBU bullpen combination of Sean Stutzman, Trevor Conn, and Blake Brodie were solid, allowing just one hit in four innings, while striking out six and walking one. All totaled the Patriot pitching staff surrendered just three hits, compared to 15 produced by the offense. DBU played error-free baseball, with the Delta Devils tallying three errors.
 
Terrance Steele led MVSU with a pair of hits in four trips to the plate. Trent Kinney started and worked 2 2/3 innings, moving to 0-1 after allowing seven runs, all earned, on six hits. Three other pitchers combined, with the top performance coming from Shawn Wiseman, who allowed a single run on one hit.
 
The Patriots and Delta Devils compete in game two of their weekend series, Saturday at 2 p.m., with the finale scheduled for 1 p.m., Sunday.