GRAMBLING STATE UNIVERSITY @ DALLAS BAPTIST
Feb. 18 | Dallas, Texas | Horner Ballpark
 
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
Video/Audio: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Livestats: DBU Livestats
Facebook: DBU Athletics
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Dates: February 18, 2014
Time: 6:30 PM
Stadium: Horner Ballpark (2,000)
Broadcast: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Talent: Reagan Ratcliff and Brendan Smith
 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Tuesday, Feb. 18
                      
GSU – Zach Moreau  2013 stats (0-4, 3.78 ERA, 33.1 IP, 32 SO, 11 BB)
vs.
DBU – Cory Taylor  2013 stats (1-3, 5.85 ERA, 40.0 IP, 44 SO, 23 BB)

FIRST PITCH - The Dallas Baptist Baseball Team continues its four-game home stand with a mid-week contest versus Grambling State University on Tuesday. First pitch at Horner Ballpark is slated for 6:30 PM.
 
The Patriots (3-0) got off to a hot start in 2014, sweeping the Mississippi Valley State Dust Devils 19-0, 19-3, and 14-2, opening weekend. 
 
PREVIOUS SERIES REVIEW - Scoring in 19 out of 24 innings over the course of the series, DBU had no shortage of run production against the Delta Devils. The home squad combined for 52 runs and tallied 44 hits overall in the outburst.
 
On opening night to begin the weekend slate, the Patriots had a player cross the plate at least once in all but one inning. Eight different players registered hits for the DBU club, led by four from freshman, Camden Duzenack. Junior, Paul Voelker, anchored a strong pitching night, tossing five shutout innings in the win.
 
The next day, DBU faced its first deficit of the campaign, when they fell behind 3-2 after three and a half innings. However, the Patriots quickly erased the margin in the bottom of the fourth on a bases loaded double from Duzenack that cleared the bases. The native of Melissa, Texas, tied a school record with nine RBI in the huge victory.
 
Wrapping up the series on Sunday, sophomore, Drew Smith, carried a no-hitter through five innings before being lifted for sophomore, Philip Orr. MVSU would not record a hit until the seventh inning and only totaled three in the setback.
 
The Patriots once again had a big day at the plate, rattling off 15 hits, with five individuals having multi-hit performances. Duzenack extended his hitting streak to three games and pounded three more hits to finish with 11 in his debut series. Sophomore, Daniel Salters, had a strong game going 3-for-3 at the dish and boasted a team-high 3 RBI.
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH - Duznack displayed an amazing start to his collegiate career against MVSU. The starting second baseman was named National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball and was also tabbed as the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week.
 
In his debut series, Duznack hit an astounding .786 (11-for-14); collected 13 RBI, and delivered seven doubles. Over the three-game span, the freshman totaled an .824 on-base percentage, racked up 18 total bases, and compiled a 1.286 slugging percentage. 
 
Salters pounded six hits in 13 at-bats for a .462 hitting clip, including one of the team's three home runs, three triples, and five RBI.
 
Junior, Nash Knight, turned in a .444 batting average (4-for-9), while scoring seven runs, belted a homer, and drove in three runs. Mike Wesolowski, who finished fifth on last year's squad with a .281 average, and returns with the third highest average on this year's team, hit a solid .429 against the Delta Devils, claimed four RBI and scored three times. The Meza, Arizona, product walked twice and was hit by a pitch two times-putting him second on the club.
 
Redshirt Sophomore, Justin Wall, tallied a .300 average (3-for-10) and smacked five RBI to tie for third on the squad.  Walll also drew a team-best four walks. His total matches Salters and senior, KJ Alexander.
 
Alexander ranks second in RBI on the club with seven and did contribute a .364 average following the high scoring affairs.
 
ON THE BUMP - The Patriots sent 12 arms to the rubber over the three-game series. Junior, Cy Sneed, leads the club with 6.0 innings pitched, while fellow junior, Paul Voelker, and sophomore, Drew Smith, each tossed 5.0 innings in their starts.
 
As a team, DBU pitchers struck out 35 batters while walking seven. The group of arms also surrendered the opposition five runs, four of them earned to garner a 1.33 ERA for second in the MVC.
 
Sophomore, Cory Taylor, takes the mound for the Patriots in the mid-week affair. Last season, the Owasso, Oklahoma, native appeared in 15 games, including eight of them for starts. Last year, the right-hander made his first collegiate start on Opening Weekend against Creighton. He pitched five innings and allowed two runs while fanning five in the outing.
 
In his first bullpen appearance, Taylor threw 2.1 innings of shutout ball versus San Jose State. He also worked an inning of scoreless relief in a 5-4 win at TCU.

Taylor's strongest outing of the year was a five inning shutout performance against then No. 10 Oklahoma on April 30.  Taylor picked up a season-high seven strikeouts and earned the first win of his career.
 
SCOUTING GRAMBLING STATE - The Tigers (0-3) dropped a pair of 7-5 contests at Southern University Friday and Saturday, and fell Sunday at Louisiana State University by a final of 6-0.
 
Pacing GSU on offense in its most recent setback was Kris Minter with the only multi-hit day. Brandon Kiser, Korey Hall, Roger Diaz, and Dion Holbrook all contributed to the six-hit day for the team. The Tigers used four pitchers overall that night, and the bullpen was effective going 2.1 innings allowing a run on a pair of hits, while walking one.
 
In the opener for GSU, Juan Bueno delivered a 3-for-5 day with an RBI, while Johnathan Timeo went 2-for-5 and added two RBI in the cleanup spot. Also producing multi-hit efforts were Edwin Drexler and Korey Hall going 2-for-4 apiece.

SERIES HISTORY - DBU holds the all-time series record 6-0 against the Tigers. The last time these programs met on the diamond was in 2010 for a three-game series. The Patriots swept the affairs (14-1, 18-6, and 18-0) at home.

A milestone was notched in the opener of that three-game set. The victory was DBU's 1500^th in school history. The squad combined for 46 hits in the sweep, reaching double-digits in the hitting column in the trio of contests.
 
These will be the first time the clubs meet in Horner Ballpark, since it was opened just last year.
 
QUICK HITS:
-DBU enters their inaugural season in the Missouri Valley Conference.  
-The Patriots rank tops in the MVC in batting average with a .396 clip.
-Duzenack becomes the first player since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks to receive National Player of the Week honors.  
-Duzenack also leads the league in hitting (11), runs scored (8), doubles (7), and RBI (13).
-A trio of Patriots are top 3 in the league in runs scored. Behind Duzenack are Knight and Salters tied with seven each.
-Voelker is tied for a league-high seven strike outs, and Smith is tied for third with five.
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE - DBU begins its first road trip of the campaign this weekend, Feb. 21-23, at Sam Houston State University. Start times for those contests are at 6:30 PM, 4 PM, and 1 PM, respectively.