Box Score

The DBU Patriot Baseball team dropped game one of a three game set, Thursday, falling 6-4 to visiting Oral Roberts University. The two clubs continue their series, Friday at 6:30 p.m., with the finale scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
The Patriots (9-4) jumped on top in the bottom of the first in a disastrous inning for the Golden Eagles. Three ORU errors led to a pair of unearned runs for DBU, with Nash Knight drilling a single to center, scoring Mike Wesolowski and Daniel Salters.

ORU countered with three runs in the top of the second, all with two outs, as the Patriots committed two errors of their own, causing two of the three runs to cross the plate unearned. The lone earned run came on a Joey Migliaccio single to center, scoring Anthony Sequeira from second.
 
Both starters settled in from that point, as Paul Voelker retired eight straight batters at one point for DBU, and Kurt Giller sat down 7-of-8, as neither team scored until DBU struck for a single run in the bottom of the fifth. After walking and moving to third on a Daniel Salters double, Austin Listi scored on a Justin Wall infield single, tying the contest at three.
 
The Golden Eagles immediately responded, pushing across three runs in the sixth, one each on an RBI double, an RBI single, and a sacrifice fly, knocking Voelker out of the game and giving the visiting club a 6-3 lead.
 
Thanks to a David Martinelli sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth, the Patriots moved one run closer, heading to the ninth trailing, 6-4. Martinelli's sacrifice fly scored Knight who had doubled and moved to third on a ground out.
 
In the ninth, Mike Wesolowski reached with one out, getting hit by a pitch, but the Patriots were unable to produce any offense beyond that, closing the two-run loss, 6-4.
 
"At this point what we're looking at is why we are behind," said DBU Head Coach Dan Heefner when asked about his team trailing in Thursday's contest. "If we're doing our job, pounding the strike zone, and playing well defensively and they're putting up runs, you can deal with that. But if you're giving the other team runs, that's when there's a problem."
 
Knight was the leading producer for the DBU club, earning two hits and a walk in four plate appearances, knocking in two runs and scoring once. Wall and Salters each tallied one hit, with Wall knocking in one run and Salters scoring once.
 
Voelker (2-1) takes the loss, his first of the 2014 campaign, allowing six runs, four of them earned, on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. The junior struck out seven and walked three. Sean Stutzman was a bright spot for DBU in the loss, working 3 2/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, surrendering just two hits and striking out three.
 
The Golden Eagles spread the offense around, with eight different players registering at least one hit, and six different players accounting for one run each. Brandon Healy earned two hits, the only multi-hit performance, and four different players each earned a single RBI.
 
Colin Hightower moves to 3-1 with the win, hurling 3 2/3 innings out of the ORU bullpen. The junior allowed one run on one hit, striking out two without surrendering a walk. Jordan Romano came on to retire the final two batters in the ninth, earning his third save of the season.