THE LEAD
Six shutout innings from Joseph Shaw helped lift No. 11 Dallas Baptist to an 8-0 win over San Francisco at Horner Ballpark on Friday afternoon.  Justin Wall ignited the offense, blasting his eighth home run of the year, as DBU (38-9) won for the ninth straight time.  With the win, the Patriots improved their home record to 19-2 on the season and are now just two wins shy of claiming their 40th win of the season.
 
In the top of the first, Shaw averted danger as he worked out of a bases loaded jam, inducing a ground ball off the bat of Justin McCullough.  It would be one of eight ground outs that Shaw recorded on the day, to go along with a five strikeout performance. 
 
After San Francisco (23-26) starter, Anthony Shew, was lifted before the game, emergency starter, Sheldon Lee, ran into trouble in the second when a lead-off single by Daniel Salters started the hit-parade for the Patriots.  Following a single by Tagg Duce, a bloop single by Chane Lynch scored Salters from third and put DBU on the board.  With the bases loaded and one out, Nash Knight laced a two-run single into right for the first of his three hits on the day.  A ground out by Daniel Sweet plated the fourth run of the inning, staking Shaw to a 4-0 lead on the mound.
 
In the third, Lynch smashed a double into the gap in left center, scoring Salters all the way from first.  It would be the second of Lynch's three hits on the afternoon and staked the Patriots to a five-run advantage.
 
Leading 6-0 into the sixth and with one on and one out, Justin Wall drove a 2-2 pitch over the fence in left field.  The two-run blast raised Wall's RBI total to a team-leading 46 and extended the DBU lead to 8-0. 
 
Following Shaw's exit after six innings of work, freshman, Dalton Higgins, worked two scoreless frames on the hill.  In the ninth, fellow freshman, Seth Elledge worked around a one-out walk to close out the Dons and complete the shutout.
 
DBU HEAD COACH, DAN HEEFNER – ON SHAW'S OUTING TODAY
"I thought Joseph was outstanding today.  They were aggressive early in the game against him and he did a great job of offsetting them with his change-up.  He had good command of all three pitches today and the sink in his fastball allowed him to get a lot of ground ball outs."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
19 – RBI's by Justin Wall over the last eight games.
3 – The Patriots recorded their third shutout of the season today.
12 – Daniel Salters extended his career-high hit streak to 12 games.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE PATRIOTS
DBU and San Francisco meet in game two of the series on Saturday at Horner Ballpark.  First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 pm.