UNIVERSITY OF PENNSLYVANIA @ DALLAS BAPTIST
Feb. 28 – March 2 | Dallas, Texas | Horner Ballpark  
 
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
Video/Audio: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Livestats: DBU Livestats
Facebook: DBU Athletics
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Dates: February 28 – March 2, 2014
Time: 6:30 PM (Fri.), 2 PM (Sat. GM1), 6:30 PM (Sat. GM 2), 1 PM (Sun.)
Stadium: Horner Ballpark (2,000)
Broadcast: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Talent: Reagan Ratcliff & Brendan Smith

PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday, Feb. 28
PENN – RHP Conner Cuff [2013 stats (5-3, 4.38 ERA, 51.1 IP, 12 BB, 42 SO)]                    
vs.                                                        
DBU – RHP Paul Voelker [2014 stats (2-0, 0.750 ERA, 12.0 IP, 3 BB, 13 SO)]
 
Saturday, March 1 (Game 1)
PENN – RHP Dan Gautieri [2013 stats (2-0, 2.17 ERA, 58 IP, 17 BB, 43 SO)]                    
vs.
DBU – RHP Cy Sneed [2014 stats (1-1, 3.09 ERA, 11.2 IP, 4 BB, 9 SO)]
 
Saturday, March 1 (Game 2)
PENN – LHP Ronnie Glenn [2013 stats (1-1, 4.42 ERA, 18.1 IP, 9 BB, 24 SO)]                    
vs.
DBU – RHP Drew Smith [2014 stats (1-1, 5.41 ERA, 6.2 IP,  6 BB, 5 SO)]
 
Sunday, March 2
PENN – RHP Cody Thomson [2013 stats (2-3, 6.05 ERA, 38.2 IP, 16 BB, 24 SO)]                    
vs.
DBU - TBA
 
FIRST PITCH – The Dallas Baptist Baseball Team is back home at Horner Ballpark for its first four-game series of the 2014 campaign as it welcomes the University of Pennsylvania. Friday night begins with first pitch at 6:30 PM. The lengthy weekend affair includes a doubleheader on Saturday. Game one of the twinbill will be at 2 PM, while the nightcap is slated for around 6 PM. On Sunday the series wraps-up with a 1 PM contest.  
 
Back in the friendly confines, the Patriots have gone 4-0, which helped spark their best start since the 2011 season when the club reached the NCAA Super Regional. Eventually DBU would extend that stretch to 5-0 to notch its hottest start since 2003.
 
LAST TIME ON THE DIAMOND – DBU (6-2) just completed a 2-2 road trip, including a thrilling 12-inning affair that the Patriots triumphed over UT-San Antonio on Tuesday. Trailing 4-0 after four innings, Dallas Baptist rallied back starting with a three-run fifth inning.
 
Senior, Mike Wesolowski, smashed a solo-homerun to get the Patriots on the board first. With the bases loaded and two outs, junior, Nash Knight, plated a pair of runs with a sharp single through the right side.
 
Still down by the same tally, freshman, Camden Duzenack, ripped a triple to right-center field and would cross the plate a batter later when Wesolowski doubled. Sophomore, Daniel Salters, crushed a ball off the center field wall, scoring the go-ahead run sending DBU to the bottom of the eighth with a 5-4 advantage.
 
After the Roadrunners knotted the score at 5-5 with a run in the bottom of the frame, it became a battle of the bullpens.
 
Patriot relievers combined for eight innings of allowing a run on five hits and struck out 14 batters altogether. Sophomore, Joseph Shaw, shattered a career record, punching out nine UTSA hitters through 4.2 innings.
 
Junior, Josh Urban, also compiled a season-long 4.1 innings garnering five strikeouts and only surrendering the run in the eighth while scattering three hits.
 
The hero of the extra inning contest was senior, KJ Alexander, who delivered the game-winning single with two outs in the 12^th, scoring sophomore, Austin Listi. Shaw was able to shut the door in the bottom of the frame, fanning the final batter for UTSA with the tying run on second base.
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH – Duzenack paces the Patriots' offense with a team-leading .467 batting average, 14 hits, and 15 RBI. He also ties for most on the squad with 23 total bases. The former Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week also has reached base safely in all eight of DBU's contests.
 
Wesolowski carries a team-long, four-game hitting streak into the weekend series with Penn. The Mesa, Arizona, native has picked up seven hits during the span, including tying a season-best three hits in Tuesday's extra inning nail-biter.
 
The first baseman also scored twice and drove in two, including the tying run in the eighth. On the campaign, Wesolowski boasts the second highest average on the team with a .357 clip.
 
Salters has hit safely in six of the team's first eight games, and has been the team's biggest power presence so far belting two homers. The Eufaula, Oklahoma, native is third on the club with a .355 batting average and eight RBI. He has totaled four multi-hit efforts.

Knight has put up solid numbers on the campaign, also reaching base safely in the first eight games for DBU. The third baseman has posted a .320 batting average and is tied with a club-lead 10 walks.
 
Joining Knight in that category is Alexander. The catcher also has taken 10 free passes and rounds out the five Patriot starters hitting over .300 with a .310 average. Tuesday's game-winner was the native of Denton, Texas's ninth overall and ranks him second on the squad.
 
ON THE BUMP – The Patriots have established a tough pitching presence in the early part of the year. Through 73.0 innings, DBU hurlers have allowed 28 runs, 22 earned, to compile a 2.71 ERA that's third in the league. In addition, the Patriots have posted 62 hits allowed, 77 strikeouts, and 31 walks.
 
On Friday evening, the series opener will belong to junior, Paul Voelker. The opening day starter continued his dominant stretch, shutting down Sam Houston State through a season-high seven innings and striking out six.
 
He allowed a run as DBU pulled out to its best record in just over a decade. The Plymouth, Minnesota, native ranks best on the starting staff with a 0.75 ERA, 12 innings pitched, and 13 strikeouts.
 
Saturday, the Patriots send junior, Cy Sneed, to the mound in game one of the double-header.  Sneed has gone 11.2 innings for second on the club and allowed a combined five runs, four earned, in both starts this season.  In his last outing at Sam Houston State, the three-year starter tossed 5.2 innings of two-run ball, allowing six hits, walking two, and fanning three in an eventual 4-1 loss.

Drew Smith will go to the bump in game two.  In his season debut, the righty tossed five no-hit innings in a 14-2 victory over Mississippi Valley State. The right hander's most recent outing was a 1.2 inning day, surrendering four runs on two hits and walking five in DBU's first setback on the year.
 
SCOUTING PENN – The Penn Baseball Team opens the 2014 campaign this weekend series in Dallas, Texas. Last year the Quakers compiled a 22-21 record overall, but were 15-12 on the road and 15-8 in non-conference action.
 
First year head coach, John Yurkow, looks to his pitching staff to be the strength of this year's club, after only losing one senior from the previous season. Connor Cuff, Dan Gautieri, Ronnie Glenn, and Cody Thomson, all will see action on the hill for the Quakers and expect to anchor a strong rotation throughout the spring.
 
Second baseman, Mike Vilardo, will return displaying a .320 batting average with 19 doubles and 31 RBI.  Another offensive threat for the Quakers is Austin Bossart, who carried a .283 average, three home runs, and 25 RBI.  Brandon Engelhardt contributed a .279 batting clip, five doubles, and 14 RBI.   
 
The programs have only met one time previously, dating back to 2005 when the Patriots topped Penn 9-2 in a match-up that was in Fresno, California.  
 
WORTH NOTING:
-The Patriots are 2-0 in games decided by a run.
-DBU is 6-2 for first time since 2011, and that run was eventually 8-2. That was same year the club qualified to the NCAA Super Regional.
-The team has scored most of its runs in the eighth inning, totaling 16 compared to just one by the opposition. DBU is also putting up double-digit numbers in the fifth (14) and second inning (10).
-Opponents have been outscored by Dallas Baptist 68-28.
-The squad ranks first in the MVC with 77 strikeouts by the pitching staff.
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE – Dallas Baptist completes its four-game series before traveling up the highway for a mid-week game at TCU on March 4 at 6:30 PM.  Following the short trip to Fort Worth, DBU is back at Horner Ballpark for a three-game set against Oral Roberts University. The dates for that series are March 6-8 at 6:30 PM the first two, and then 2 PM on Saturday afternoon. The home stand concludes on March 10 versus Brigham Young University with first pitch at 3 PM.