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Justin Wall
5
Winner Dallas Baptist DBU 36-16, 14-4 MVC
4
Wichita State WSU 20-34, 8-11 MVC
Winner
Dallas Baptist DBU
36-16, 14-4 MVC
5
Final
4
Wichita State WSU
20-34, 8-11 MVC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Dallas Baptist DBU 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 1 0 5 7 1
Wichita State WSU 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 9 3

W: Higgins, Dalton (8-3) L: Williams, C (1-6) S: Elledge, Seth (12)

Game Recap: Baseball |

DBU Claims MVC Regular-Season Title

THE LEAD
On Thursday night at Eck Stadium in Wichita, Kansas, DBU won their first-ever Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title with a 5-4 win over Wichita State.  Trailing 4-0 through the first four innings, the Patriots scored five unanswered runs, highlighted by a two-out double by Jameson Hannah in the top of the eighth inning to score Justin Wall with the eventual game-winning run.  Dalton Higgins earned his eight win of the year, throwing an inning-and-two-thirds of scoreless relief, before turning the game over to Seth Elledge, who retired the side in order in the ninth to notch his 12th save of the year.

The Patriots fell behind early as Colin Poche allowed a pair of runs to the Shockers in both the second and third innings before the DBU offense finally came to life in the fifth. Jameson Hannah led off that inning with a solid single to center and Trooper Reynolds followed with a double.  Matt Duce and Camden Duzenack followed with back-to-back sacrifice flies and the Shocker lead sat at two through five innings.
 
In the sixth, DBU climbed to within one run as Daniel Sweet singled to lead off the frame, moved to third on a stolen base and an error, and scored on Justin Wall's deep fly to left center.  With the offense finally clicking, Poche did his part in slowing the Shocker offense.  From the fourth through the sixth, the lefthander allowed only two baserunners and strung together zeroes on the board before being lifted with two out in the sixth. Landon Wilson came out of the bullpen with a runner at second and induced an inning-ending flyball to center.
 
The Patriots tied the game, and had a chance to take command, in the seventh inning but two strikeouts and a groundout left the go-ahead runs at second and third.  Hannah walked to start the frame, moved to second as Reynolds reached via an error, and scored as Matt Duce's sacrifice bunt was thrown away at first by catcher Gunnar Troutwine.  With Reynolds and Duce standing at second and third with nobody out, Wichita State went to Chase Williams out of the pen and Williams got WSU out of the jam with two strikeouts and a ground ball to second.
 
In the eighth inning, however, DBU was able to finally force their way to the front and took the lead by scoring for the fourth straight inning. With one out, Wall walked, stole second, and scored on Hannah's second hit of the game, a double down the right field line.

Leading 5-4 into the ninth inning, Seth Elledge retired the first two batters he faced before inducing a ground ball off the bat of Trey Vickers to close out the game and hand DBU the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title.  With the win, the Patriots also lock up the No. 1 seed at next week's MVC Baseball Championship in Terre Haute, Indiana.
 
DBU HEAD COACH, DAN HEEFNER, ON WINNING THE MVC REGULAR SEASON TITLE
"This was an appropriate way for this team to win it tonight, coming back the way we did.  They've shown great character all season long.  There's been a number of times where we've been down early and just keep plugging away and find a way to win.  It was great to see us do that again tonight."
 
JUSTIN WALL ON WINNING THE TITLE AND THE GOALS AHEAD FOR THE TEAM
"This is a great win for the program and a great way to cap off the regular-season, but this team is motivated to do more and we want to cap it off much later.  We're excited for this, but aren't done yet and feel like we have a lot left to accomplish"
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7 – The Patriots won the first game of all seven of their conference series this year.
19 – Daniel Sweet has reached base safely in 19 consecutive games.
3 – Seth Elledge is three saves away from matching Chris Haney's school record for saves in a single-season.
 
UP NEXT
DBU faces Wichita State in game two of the series on Friday at Eck Stadium.  First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
 
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