Box Score

The Dallas Baptist Baseball Team took game two of a three game series versus Southern Illinois, 6-5, on Friday night at Horner Ballpark.  After surrendering a 5-1 lead in the top of the seventh, David Martinelli's single to right field plated Justin Wall with the eventual winning run, as DBU (35-18, 13-7) won for the fourth straight time. 

The Patriots got on the board in the bottom of the first, when Mike Wesolowski delivered his sixth homerun of the season with a shot over the left field wall.  DBU tacked on one more run in the third when Austin Listi drilled a pitch to the fence in center field, scoring Daniel Salters from first base.

Paul Voelker surrendered a run in the Southern Illinois (25-28, 4-16) as Will Farmer grounded into a fielders choice with one out and the bases loaded.  DBU responded with two runs of their own in their half of the fourth, as Martinelli sent a pitch to the opposite field and over the wall in left center to five the Patriots a 4-1 advantage.  The round tripper was Martinelli's fifth of the season and was followed by a Drew Turbin RBI double that fave DBU a four run lead.

The Salukis scratched two runs off of Voelker in the fifth, before the right hander from Plymouth, Minnesota, gave way to Joseph Shaw out of the pen.  Voelker would not factor into the decision tonight, tossing five innings and allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits.  "We could have let Paul work deeper into the game, but with the tournament coming up next week, we felt like we were at a good point to go get him and turn the game over to Joseph Shaw," DBU Head Baseball Coach, Dan Heefner said.

Shaw allowed a run in the sixth and the tying run to score in the seventh when he walked Dyllin Mucha with the bases loaded.  With two outs and the bases still loaded, Shaw threw a wild pitch to Connor Kopach that Matt Jones tried to score on, but Daniel Salters throw to Shaw, covering home, was in time to record the third out of the inning.

Brandon Koch would come out of the bullpen to work a scoreless eight, getting out of a jam with runners at first and second, as he got Donny Duschinsky to pop out to Turbin at second.  After the Patriots took the lead in the eighth, Koch closed the door in the ninth with the tying run in scoring position at second, as Mucha popped out to Tubin to end the game.  The victory was Koch's sixth of the season, as he remains a perfect 6-0 on the year, with eight saves.

"It was a huge win for us and I was proud of the way our guys battled back," Heefner remarked after the game.  "I felt like we had a chance though early in the game to put it away and just weren't able to do what we needed to and let them back in it."

The win gives DBU the series, as they look for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon.  First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.  Saturday will be Senior Day at Horner Ballpark, as the Patriots recognize the senior players on the 2014 DBU Baseball Team.  Following tomorrow's game, DBU travels to Terre Haute, Indiana, for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, where they will meet Missouri State in their first game.