Box Score

The DBU Patriot Baseball Team jumped out to a big lead and held off a Baylor charge in taking a 12-8 win over the visiting Bears, Friday night at Horner Ballpark. The two clubs will complete the series with a doubleheader, Saturday, traveling to Waco to compete on Baylor's home field.
 
The Bears jumped on top in the first, as Grayson Porter drilled the 11^th pitch of his at bat over the left field wall, scoring Lawton Langford who reached on a leadoff walk, giving the Bears an early 2-0 lead. The Patriots immediately countered with three runs in the bottom half, loading the bases before infield singles by Austin Listi and Nash Knight, and a walk by KJ Alexander each scored single runs.
 
DBU tacked on another three runs in third, thanks to an Alexander long ball over the left field wall, scoring Daniel Salters and Listi to run the DBU lead to 6-2. The Patriots added two more in the fourth on an RBI ground out by Salters, as well as an RBI single by Listi.
 
The Patriots extended their lead in the fifth, scoring four runs, three of which came on back-to-back doubles from Wesolowski and Martinelli, running the home club's lead to 12-2. Baylor clawed back into the contest, scoring a run in the sixth and exploding for five in the seventh, with the biggest blow coming on a two-run single from Adam Toth, running the score back to 12-8.
 
Josh Urban, who finished the seventh, worked scoreless eighth and ninth innings, shutting the door on the Baylor rally to earn his first save of the season. All totaled, the senior allowed one run on two hits, striking out three and walking one. Paul Voelker (5-2) earned the win with six innings of work for DBU, surrendering three runs on five hits, striking out five.
 
"Josh (Urban) did a good job for us," said DBU Head Coach Dan Heefner. "He is so mature, we can use him in that situation. It was big for him to come in and shut them down after they turned a triple play (in the DBU 7^th inning) and had the momentum on their side."
 
Listi led the way at the plate for DBU, earning three hits in five trips to the plate, knocking in two and scoring one. Wesolowski, Martinelli, Alexander, and Justin Wall each earned two hits, with Alexander leading all players with four RBI. Wesolowski led the way with three runs scored, with Wall, Salters, and Alexander each scoring twice.
 
"All the offense started by having good awareness of the strike zone," added the DBU skipper. "We were selectively aggressive, working four walks in the first, but also had a good approach when the ball was in the zone."
 
For Baylor (15-18), Logan Brown earned a pair of hits, scoring once. Duncan Wendel also earned two hits, scoring twice and knocking in one. Toth was joined by Porter and Matt Menard with two RBI each. Brad Kuntz takes his first loss of the season, dropping to 4-1 after allowing eight runs on six hits in 3 2/3 innings. The junior struggled to find the strike zone, allowing six walks and striking out three.