THE LEAD
DBU opened the Lubbock Regional by falling to New Mexico 12-6 on Friday night at Rip Griffin Park in Lubbock, Texas.  After falling behind 7-0 through the first five innings, a valiant comeback fell short, as a five run ninth inning by the Lobos pushed New Mexico past the Patriots.  With the loss, DBU (41-18) slips into the losers bracket where they will face Fairfield University on Saturday.
 
Things were not easy for Patriots' ace Colin Poche from the get-go, as New Mexico (39-21) scored two runs in the first inning after the first two batters of the game reached , one on a two-strike single and one on a two-strike hit-by-pitch.  A one-out triple by Chris DeVito gave the Lobos the early lead before DBU threatened in the bottom of the inning with two runners of their own, both on walks.  The Patriots were unable to get a hit with the runners on, however, and Poche was at a two-run deficit after one full inning.
 
The Lobos scored in three straight innings beginning in the third, as they pushed their lead to 6-0 before Poche was lifted with two outs in the fifth inning. I t was the shortest outing of the season for the Patriot lefthander and the most runs allowed in his career, spanning his time at Arkansas and this year with DBU.  Landon Wilson came out of the bullpen in that fifth inning and struck out the last batter of the inning to keep the deficit at six for the Patriot offense.
 
After a leadoff homerun in the top of the sixth - the first off Wilson in 2016 - made the score 7-0, the Patriot offense finally showed signs of life.  David Martinelli singled and Austin Listi walked for the third time on the evening to lead off the inning.  Camden Duzenack singled to score Martinelli and Jameson Hannah followed with his fourth homerun of the season to cut the Lobo lead to three.
 
DBU would scratch another run across in the eighth inning when a sacrifice fly ball off the bat of Trooper Reynolds cut the deficit to two runs.  Trailing 7-5, Justin Wall entered the game as a pinch-hitter and reached on an error by New Mexico second baseman Michael Eaton.  Following a two-out walk to load the bases, Daniel Sweet popped out on the infield, as DBU squandered a scoring opportunity with the tying run standing in scoring position.

In the top of the ninth, the Lobos strung together a two-out rally that saw New Mexico strike for five runs, highlighted by a three-run bases clearing double by Luis Gonzalez.  The double was Gonzalez's third of the night and part of a 4-for-4 performance, as the Lobos took a commanding 12-5 lead.  DBU would strike for one more run in their half of the ninth before Carson Schneider got Trooper Reynolds to line out to short to end the game.
 
DBU HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON THE LOSS
"You can't play the way we did tonight against an offense like New Mexico's and expect to win.  We gave up too many hits in two-strike or two-out situations and we also committed four costly errors.  If you're going to beat a team like them, you just can't make those kind of mistakes."
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The loss for Colin Poche was his first of the year.
- DBU used four different pitchers out of the bullpen.
- The Patriots' four errors were the most by the team since DBU committed six errors on March 11.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
5 – New Mexico lead-off hitter Luis Gonzalez drove in five runs.
19 – David Martinelli notched his team-leading 19th multi-hit game of the season.
4 – Jameson Hannah hit his fourth home run of the season and drove in four runs.
 
UP NEXT
DBU will face Fairfield in an elimination game on Saturday at Rip Griffin Park.  First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.