THE LEAD
On Tuesday night in Houston, Ray Gaither stepped on the mound for his first collegiate start in a DBU uniform.  The freshman righthander threw four predetermined innings against the No. 24 Rice Owls (2-3) and did not allow a hit while striking out five.  Gaither picked up his first win as a Patriot, as the DBU offense did just enough to edge past the Owls, 8-4.
 
It was the first four batters in the Patriot (3-1) lineup that collected seven of the eight RBI on the night and six of the Patriots' eight hits.  It was the bottom of the order, however, that set the table for the DBU offense. Tim Millard scored half of the Patriot runs batting in the eighth spot after reaching in all four of his at-bats with a double and three walks.  Logan Sepanek, the final batter in the order, walked twice and collected a hit.  The only time he did not reach base was on a sacrifice bunt in the fifth inning. He scored two runs in the contest, the sixth run of the game between himself and Millard.  The other two runs for DBU came on home runs from Austin Listi and Jameson Hannah.
 
Seth Elledge came on from the bullpen with one out in the eighth inning and the tying run at the plate to pick up a five-out save, his first save of the 2017 season. Gaither was credited with the win, the first of his collegiate career, while a quartet of Patriots saw time out of the bullpen, including effective outings from Travis Stone and Gavin Fritz.
 
Listi opened the scoring for DBU in the second inning with a no-doubt blast to left field off Rice starter Willy Amador. The Patriots tacked on two more runs in the third inning, as Wayne Graham went to his bullpen.  Matt Duce and Devlin Granberg both recorded RBI single as part of a three-hit attack in the frame, sending Gaither back out for his third inning of work with a 3-0 lead.
 
Both teams went scoreless in the fourth before trading runs in the fifth.  For DBU, Millard led off the inning with a double and scored two batters later, as Hannah lifted his first home run of the season over the left field wall.  That staked the Patriots to a five-run cushion before the Owls cracked the scoreboard off Coby Weaver, who came on in relief of Gaither in the bottom of the inning.  The Owls scored a single run in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth inning, before Travis Stone came on and induced a double play with the tying run on first to slow the momentum.
 
The teams traded runs in the seventh inning, as the Patriots picked up a bases loaded walk from Granberg and the Owls scored their run on a wild pitch.  Gavin Fritz pitched out of a bases loaded situation in that inning to keep the lead at two runs to the final two frames.
 
DBU tacked on two more runs in the ninth inning after Millard and Sepanek walked to open the inning and scored on a two-out single from Matt Duce and a Rice throwing error.  

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU's win over Rice was their first since February 19, 2013.
- Austin Listi is now one home run away from tying Ryan Goins and Evan Bigley for the sixth most home runs in DBU's Division I history.
- Ray Gaither has not allowed a run or a hit in the first 7.0 innings of his collegiate career.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
15 – Seth Elledge earned the 15th save of his career, which places him 10 shy of matching Chris Haney for the most saves in DBU's Division I history.
5 – DBU had five hits (5-for-12) with runners in scoring position.
3 – DBU pitchers held Rice to just three hits (3-for-18) with runners on base.
 
UP NEXT
The Patriots return to Horner Ballpark this weekend for a three-game series against 2016 NCAA Regional foe New Mexico with the first game of the series coming Friday at 6:30 p.m.