THE LEAD
Home runs by Chane Lynch and Tagg Duce, combined with a stellar start from Cory Taylor and solid work from the Dallas Baptist bullpen helped lift the Patriots to a 4-2 win over Indiana State in game two of a doubleheader at Horner Ballpark.  The victory evens the series at one apiece, after DBU dropped the first game earlier on Saturday.
 
DBU (28-8, 9-5) struck for the game's first runs on a towering three-run blast to centerfield from Chane Lynch off of Indiana State starter, Ryan Keaffaber.  The blast was Lynch's third of the season and gave junior right-hander, Cory Taylor, some breathing room on the hill in the early going.  Taylor would toss three scoreless frames before the Sycamores (16-20, 5-9) got on the board with an RBI single from Andrew Gutierrez in the fourth. 
 
Leading 3-1 into the seventh, Taylor gave way to Drew Smith out of the pen after allowing just one run and striking out four over six innings of work.  Smith silenced Indiana State in the seventh and then gave up a solo home run to Jacob Hayes in the top of the eighth that cut the Patriot lead to one.  With the home run by Hayes, the Sycamores' senior slugger has now homered in each of his last four games and six of his last seven.

After ISU's Andy Young reached on a single, Brandon Koch would come out of the pen in relief of Smith.  With the tying run standing on second base and the go-ahead run at first, Koch struck out Andy DeJesus to get out of the jam and preserve the one-run lead.
 
As the Patiots clung to a 3-2 advantage in the bottom of the eighth, Tagg Duce lifted a pitch from Sycamore reliever, Trent Lunsford, over the wall in left-center to extend the lead to two.  It marked the fifth home run for Duce on the season and gave Koch an extra insurance run to work with in the ninth.
 
After walking the lead-off batter to start the top of the ninth, Koch fielded a sharply hit ground ball back to the mound off the bat of Taylor Steen and turned a double play to clear the bases.  With two outs, Koch then got Landon Curry to fly out to left to preserve the win and notch his seventh save of the season.
 
DBU HEAD COACH, DAN HEEFNER ON THE PATRIOTS' PITCHING TODAY
"I thought all three of those guys did a great job on the mound today.  Cory came out and gave us six solid innings of work and I felt like Drew was really sharp as well.  Then in the eighth and ninth, that was great work by Brandon to come out and get out of a couple of jams and he had everything working today."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
16 – With his three-hit game, Tagg Duce now leads the club with 16 multi-hit games this year.
15 – Chane Lynch has now reached base safely in 15 straight games.
3 – The only three extra-base hits from the two teams were the three home runs that were hit.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE PATRIOTS
DBU and Indiana State meet in the series finale on Sunday.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm at Horner Ballpark.