Box Score

The DBU Patriot Baseball Team completed their regular season schedule, Saturday, finishing the sweep of visiting Southern Illinois, 10-4. The win concludes DBU's Missouri Valley schedule at 14-7, a third place finish in the league, 36-18 overall.
 
Saturday was also Senior Day at Horner Ballpark, as Patriots Josh Urban, Cody Beam, Mike Wesolowski, RJ Talamantes, and KJ Alexander were all honored in a pre-game ceremony.
 
Both clubs now head to Terre Haute, Ind., next week, to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, beginning Tuesday. No.3-seed DBU is scheduled to take on No.6 Missouri State, Tuesday at 3 p.m. The Patriots will be seeking a bid to an NCAA Regional, either through a tournament championship or an at-large berth.
 
"The sweep was huge for us," said DBU Head Coach Dan Heefner. "One big thing that the NCAA committee looks for is how you finish out the season and the last five have been good. However, we need to do well at the tournament; we can't go two losses and out."
 
In Saturday's contest, after a perfect top of the first for Cory Taylor, the Patriots tallied four runs in the bottom half of the inning, loading the bases with two outs before David Martinelli hit his second home run in as many days, the freshman's first career grand slam. DBU added one more in the second, as Austin Listi doubled and came around to score on single by Daniel Salters, extending the lead to 5-0.
 
The Patriots added five runs in the fourth, starting with a Drew Turbin triple to left center, scoring Nash Knight, who previously singled to open the inning. After Turbin scored on a wild pitch, DBU loaded the bases and scored one on an infield single by Justin Wall and two on a single by Camden Duzenack, running their lead to 10-0 after four.
 
Southern Illinois broke the shutout in the fifth, scoring a single run on a sacrifice fly by Jake Welch, scoring Ryan Rosthenhausler. The Salukis tallied three more in the ninth on a long ball by Welch, but it was too little, too late as Jay Calhoun retired the next batter to preserve the 10-4 win.
 
Duzenack led the DBU offense with three hits in four at bats, knocking in a pair of runs. Wesolowski, Listi, and Martinelli each tallied two hits in the 14-hit attack, with Martinelli leading the club with four RBI and Listi leading the way with three runs scored.
 
Taylor improves to 4-4 after working five innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking three and striking out four. Drew Smith and Cody Beam combined to toss three shutout innings of relief, surrendering just two total hits and Smith striking out two.
 
Southern Illinois (25-29, 4-17) was led by a pair of hits from Cody Daily, with a Welch tying Martinelli with the game-high four RBI. Austin McPheron dropped to 4-3 after pitching three innings. The freshman allowed seven runs, only three earned, on eight hits.