THE LEAD
A six game win streak to begin the season was snapped on Sunday when Dallas Baptist fell to San Diego 6-1 at Fowler Park.  After falling behind 5-0 through the first three innings, the Patriots could not recover, as the Toreros' starter, PJ Conlon, stifled the DBU (6-1) batting order, tossing six shutout innings and striking out eight.  On the day, the San Diego (2-5) pitching trio of Conlon, Jonathan Teaney, and Anthony McIver combined to strike out 14 DBU batters.
 
The Toreros' struck in their half of the first inning off of Patriot starter, Cory Taylor, when a ground ball out off the bat of Jacob Smith allowed Austin Bailey to score from third.  In the second, San Diego tacked on two more runs, as Hunter Mercado-Hood laced a double to the gap in right center, plating a run, followed by a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Bryson Brigman that brought Mercado-Hood in from third.
 
With the Toreros up 3-0 in the third, Ben Wylyy extended the lead to four with an RBI double.  Two batters later, Mercado-Hood ripped a single to left that knocked in Wylyy to put San Diego on top 5-0.
 
As Taylor made his xit in the third inning, left-hand reliever, Sean Stutzman, came out of the pen to silence the San Diego bats for the next two-and-two-third innings, before turning the game over to Chance Adams.  The junior righty would pick up where Stutzman left off, keeping the deficit at five going into the eighth.
 
Down 5-0 in the top of the eighth, DBU's Drew Turbin led off the inning with a double to right center.  After Camden Duzenack was hit-by-pitch, a wild pitch by San Diego reliever, Jonathan Teaney put runners at second and third with nobody out.  A Justin Wall ground out to first brought home the Patriots' first run of the game to cut the Toreros' lead to four.
 
DBU eventually loaded the bases, but with two outs and Anthony McIver now on the hill, a strikeout of David Martinelli ended the Patriot scoring threat.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, an RBI single put San Diego back up by five and snapped a streak of 29.2 innings of shutout relief from the DBU bullpen.  Down 6-1 in the ninth, the Patriots went in order to drop their first game of the season.
 
DBU HEAD COACH, DAN HEEFNER – ON THE NUMBER OF STRIKEOUTS AT THE PLATE
"I think the disappointing thing was how many we had with runners in scoring position.  There were a lot of times we didn't swing the bat and those are balls that we have to put in play and force them to make a play defensively."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
1 – Number of hits from one through six in the Patriot batting order today.
4 – Doubles hit by San Diego.
2 – Only two earned runs have been allowed by the DBU bullpen over 30.1 innings this year.

UP NEXT FOR THE PATRIOTS
DBU is scheduled to meet Oklahoma on Tuesday at Horner Ballpark.  First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 pm.