THE LEAD
Dallas Baptist (40-17) scored runs early and  often Friday afternoon against Evansville (29-27) to collect their  40th win of the season, 13-6, and advance to the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship game for the second time in their three seasons in the league.  With the victory, DBU becomes only one of seven teams in the nation to record 40 wins for the third straight season.  Jordan Martinson started the game for DBU and was sharp, picking up his third win of the season with seven innings of scoreless baseball.   Six Patriots had multiple hits on the afternoon and Tim Millard recorded his first career five-hit game, the fourth time that feat has been accomplished in 2016 for DBU.
 
The Patriot offensive barrage began in the third inning as they took a three run lead in the span of three batters.  Millard led off the inning with his second homerun of the season, Justin Wall walked, and Daniel Sweet belted his second homerun of 2016, as well, on an opposite field shot to left center.  Austin Listi also walked in the frame and moved to second on a groundout but was stranded there.
 
The onslaught continued in the fourth inning when Thursday night's hero, Matt Duce, walked for the second straight time in the game to lead off the frame.  The next batter, Duzenack, followed with a no-doubt blast to left field, his second homerun of the tournament.  Millard and Wall chased Duzenack with singles of their own and came around to score on Darick Hall's sacrifice fly and a wild pitch, respectively. Listi, who had reached on an infield single, came around to score on Hannah's RBI single.  Through four innings, DBU was in complete command with an 8-0 lead.
 
In the fifth inning, Duce picked up his third walk of the game. One day after slugging the first three homeruns of his young career, the Patriot backstop collected his first three-walk game.  Duzenack and Millard followed with clean singles to left to load the bases and DBU almost wasted the opportunity with two strikeouts, but a throwing error from catcher Boomer Synek allowed the ninth run of the game to cross the plate.
 
The Patriots would not score again until the ninth inning and, by that time, the score was 9-3.  Martinson was lifted after seven innings, as Brett Gilchrist came on and was unable to record an out against three hitters before giving the ball to fellow freshman Jimmy Fouse, who was able to calm the uprising and record three quick outs to get the game to the final frame.
 
In the ninth for DBU, Millard picked up his fifth hit of the game and Wall followed with a walk.  Sweet then singled through the right side for his third RBI of the game and Listi followed with a big blast down the left field line for the final three runs for the Patriots.  Fouse went back to the mound in the ninth and allowed a three-run homerun before recording the final out.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU became one of seven teams in the country to record 40 wins for the third straight season.
- The Patriots are averaging 10.6 runs per game in the MVC Tournament.
- DBU will look to win both the regular season and tournament titles in the same year for the first time in program history since DBU joined The Valley in 2014.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
11 – The Patriots have slugged 11 homeruns in their three games of the tournament.
5 – Tim Millard collected his first-ever five-hit game of his career and it's fourth time that feat has been accomplished for DBU this spring.
3 – Matt Duce recorded three walks in the game, a single game career high.
 
UP NEXT
The Patriots won the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Championship, also held in Terre Haute, and will face off Saturday night at 6:04 p.m. CST against either Bradley University or Missouri State. Missouri State must defeat Bradley twice to advance to the final game.  
 
The winner of the championship will become the automatic qualifier from the MVC for an NCAA Regional bid.  The NCAA Selection Show will be broadcast on ESPNU Monday, May 30, at 11:00 a.m. CST.