THE LEAD
The No. 31 Dallas Baptist University Baseball team defeated Iowa 5-1 on Friday night in the season opener for both schools. In front of the third-highest crowd ever at Horner Ballpark (1,314), junior center fielder David Martinelli went 1-for-2 with two runs batted in and a run scored to fuel the Patriot offense.
 
Relief pitcher Sean Stutzman (1-0) earned the victory after striking out two batters and allowing one run in 3 1/3 innings of relief. Iowa starter Tyler Peyton (0-1) picked up the loss, striking out six Patriots and allowing one run over 6 1/3 innings.
 
DBU starter Colin Poche allowed no runs and two hits and struck out five in five innings of work in his first start as a Patriot since transferring from Arkansas. After giving up a one-out double to Iowa's Mason McCoy in the first inning, Poche worked his way out of the inning, forcing a groundout by Peyton after an 11-pitch at bat and striking out Grant Klenovich. Poche struck out two more Hawkeyes in the second inning after allowing a lead-off walk.
 
Junior Connor Hall got the first base hit for the Patriots with a one-out single in the third inning after Peyton retired the first seven DBU batters. Hall advanced to third on a failed pickoff by Peyton and a passed ball. Two pitches later, junior David Martinelli knocked in Hall with a sacrifice fly.
 
On the diamond, DBU flashed several big defensive plays, highlighted by catcher Matt Duce, who caught runners on the base-paths to close out both the third and fifth innings. In the top of the sixth, with Iowa runners at first and second, Martinelli ran down a one-out line drive into deep left-center, only allowing the runners to tag up. Reliever Sean Stutzman then struck out the final batter of the inning to secure DBU's 1-0 lead. Stutzman only allowed one run, a solo homerun by Daniel Aaron Moriel to even the score in the top of the seventh inning.
 
Ryan Erickson replaced Peyton with one out in the seventh inning. With runners on the corners, DBU took advantage of a third Hawkeye error when first baseman Grant Klenovich bobbled the throw from reliever Erickson, allowing Trooper Reynolds to cross the plate. In the following at bat, Martinelli picked up his second RBI with a base hit to right field that brought Duce across the plate. Two batters later, Austin Listi extended the Patriot lead to 5-1 with a two-RBI single.
 
COACH DAN HEEFNER – ON THE FOUR-RUN SEVENTH INNING
"[Tyler Peyton] is one of the best pitchers we'll face all year. Trooper did a good job at the plate versus him in the seventh.  That at-bat really helped to get us on track and from there we were able to start piecing some hits together."
 
DAVID MARTINELLI – ON THE SEASON-OPENING WIN
"It was a big team win, definitely. We were able to get it going in the seventh inning offensively and our pitching staff did great."
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - Iowa was 0-for-13 with runners on base and 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
 - The bottom three batters in the Patriots' lineup combined for two hits, three RBIs and four runs.
 - Since 2008, DBU is 20-5 on Opening Weekend. 

IN THE NUMBERS
4 – DBU had four two-out RBIs in Friday's win.
7 – Iowa left seven men on base.
79 – In his first start, Colin Poche threw 79 pitches.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE PATRIOTS
DBU and Iowa faceoff in the second tilt of the weekend series on Saturday, February 20, at 2 p.m. at Horner Ballpark. Dalton Higgins, a 2015 Freshman All-American, will take the mound for the Patriots against Nick Gallagher for the Hawkeyes.