THE LEAD
DBU defeated Texas Southern 15-9 on Tuesday evening at Horner Ballpark. Justin Wall and Daniel Sweet helped lead the Patriots' offensive charge, as each collected four hits on the night.
 
Starting pitcher M.D. Johnson (1-0) picked up his first win of the season with three innings of work, holding Texas Southern scoreless on one hit with four strikeouts. Aaron McIntyre (0-1) suffered the loss after giving up nine runs on 10 hits in three innings. Seth Elledge earned his third save of the year, tossing 1 2/3 innings of hitless, scoreless baseball with two strikeouts.
 
DBU put up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, highlighted by a two-run triple off the bat of Wall, his first extra-base hit of the season. The Tigers threatened in the top of the second, loading the bases with two outs, but Johnson forced Jose Cabreja to groundout to escape the jam. Back-to-back RBI singles by shortstop Camden Duzenack and center fielder David Martinelli in the second inning helped the Patriots extend their lead to 6-0. DBU recorded another three-run inning in the third, including an RBI triple by left fielder Daniel Sweet.
 
In the fourth inning, Sweet got his third hit in as many at bats with an RBI double as part of a two-run inning. After back-to-back one-out singles in the fifth inning, Texas Southern got on the board with an RBI double by Sydney Daley. The Tigers added two more in the inning on a single down the right field line by Jeremy Thomas, who was thrown out trying to advance to second. Texas Southern trimmed the lead to 11-7 in the sixth inning after two bases-loaded walks and a two-run double by Jeremy Thomas.
 
The Patriots went ahead 12-7 in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Duzenack after Connor Hall led off the inning with a triple. The Tigers cut the lead to three runs on two-more bases-loaded walks in the eighth inning. Coach Dan Heefner went to his closer Elledge to close out the eighth, forcing a failed squeeze attempt and striking out Chris Scroggins. DBU added three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, fueled by a two-run bases-loaded single by Tim Millard.
 
COACH DAN HEEFNER – ON THE TEAM'S OFFENSE
"I think they're really starting to settle in at the plate. Justin Wall is at the center of our offense and he looked like himself today."
 
DANIEL SWEET – ON HIS NIGHT AT THE PLATE
"We had a planned approach and were able to pick out our pitches. They were throwing me a lot of breaking balls and I was able to see them well at the plate tonight."
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - Patriots hitters went 9-for-11 with runners on third with less than two outs.
 - The top three hitters of the DBU lineup went 8-for-13 with seven RBIs and seven runs scored.
 - Patriots' pitchers held Texas Southern to just 3-for-10 hitting with runners in scoring position.
 
IN THE NUMBERS
2 – DBU had two hitters finish a homerun short of hitting for the cycle (Wall, Sweet).
1 – The Patriots' pitching staff allowed just one hit to leadoff hitters.
6 – Six of DBU's 19 hits went for extra bases.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE PATRIOTS
DBU travels to Albuquerque, N.M., for a weekend series with New Mexico, beginning Friday, March 4, at 7 p.m.