THE LEAD
It took a full nine innings for the Patriot offense to get warmed up on a cold and snowy day in Normal, Illinois, but once the bats heated up, it was enough to win the opening game of Missouri Valley Conference play by running away from the Illinois State Redbirds, 7-2. Riding the left arm of starter Colin Poche, DBU (19-10, 1-0) was knotted up at two runs apiece with Illinois State (8-11, 0-1) before a combination of hits, errors, and wild pitches staked Dallas Baptist to a five run cushion. Dalton Higgins (3-2) picked up the win in 1.2 innings of relief but it was Poche who kept the Patriots afloat until the offense found its stride. The southpaw completed his longest outing in a DBU uniform, garnering a no-decision in 7.1 innings of work while allowing only six hits on the afternoon.
 
DBU opened the scoring in the second as Camden Duzenack reached on a walk and stole second ahead of a Luke Stratman single to centerfield. That lead would not last long, however, as Illinois State tripled with one out against Poche in the bottom of the inning and tied the game on a short fly ball to right field.
 
In the third, DBU continued the trend of one-run half-innings. With one out, Tim Millard was hit by a pitch from Illinois State starter Steve Heilenbach. After an infield popup kept Millard at first, David Martinelli skied a ball off the centerfield wall that bounded away from the outfielders for an RBI triple. DBU was unable to get Martinelli home with one out, however, and the Patriots took a 2-1 lead to the bottom of the third inning.
 
As snow began to fall in the fourth inning and with DBU clinging to the 2-1 lead, Illinois State put together a long inning to tie the game through the middle innings thanks in part to a leadoff safety, a sacrifice bunt, and an RBI single. From there, Poche had it on cruise control. He faced the minimum in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings and did not allow another baserunner until one out in the eighth inning when Owen Miller singled up the middle. That would be the last batter on the day for the southpaw as he was lifted in favor of Dalton Higgins with the go-ahead run at first.
 
Higgins struck out the first batter he faced but Miller was able to steal second and put himself in scoring position with two outs. Higgins then induced what should have been an inning-ending groundball that quickly pushed the game to the ninth but an error and a walk loaded the bases for the Redbirds. With Miller 90-feet from giving Illinois State the lead, Higgins got a sparkling defensive play from Duzenack on a dive to his left at shortstop and DBU sent the bottom four of the order up to the plate in the ninth.
 
It was the ninth inning that finally saw the Patriots offense come alive as Daniel Sweet opened the inning with a single to right. With the go-ahead run at first and nobody out, Luke Stratman laid down on a picture-perfect sacrifice bunt that was thrown away at first to plate Sweet. Garrett Wolforth followed with a sacrifice bunt of his own and Millard once again involved himself in the scoring with an RBI groundout that resulted in the second Redbird error of the inning and a two-run cushion.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU improved to 7-1 over Illinois State in the all-time series with the  win.
- The Patriots have won 62 straight games when taking a lead into the final inning.
- Colin Poche threw a career-high in innings (7.1) and pitches (109).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
9 - David Martinelli recorded his team-leading ninth multi-hit game with a 2-for-5 performance at the plate.
3 - Three of Dalton Higgins' five outs were strikeouts.
5 - Jameson Hannah and David Martinelli combined for five hits in the top two spots in the DBU batting order.

UP NEXT
The Patriots send Darick Hall to the mound on Saturday in search of the series win over the Redbirds.  First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.