THE LEAD
No. 23 DBU dropped the second game of the weekend slate with New Mexico by a score of 6-5 on Saturday afternoon. Camden Duzenack went 1-for-2 with two HBP, scoring a team-high three runs to lead the Patriot offense.
 
Carson Schneider (2-0) earned the win with six innings of work, allowing two runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. Trevor Conn (1-1) suffered the loss and was responsible for five runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. Christian Tripp (1) picked up his first save of the season, holding off the DBU comeback attempt in the ninth by getting three straight outs with Matt Duce stranded on second base.

Luis Gonzalez continued to be the top contributor to the UNM offense with a first-pitch bunt for a base hit, advancing to second on a throwing error and finishing off the round-trip with two straight sac flies to give the Lobos a 1-0 lead. DBU threatened in the bottom of the second, loading the bases on a Duzenack HBP, a Ray Gaither double and a Garrett Wolforth base-on-balls. In the ensuing at-bat, Tim Millard flied out to right field, allowing Duzenack to tag-up and level the score. Following the leadoff single by Gonzalez, Conn proceeded to retire 10 straight until a Dan Collier double in the top of the fourth. Collier scored on a Carl Stajduhar single on the next at-bat to break up the tie ballgame.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Patriots answered with an RBI single through the hole between third base and shortstop to knock in Duzenack. UNM regained the lead in the top of the fifth on a two-run shot over the wall in right-center, making it 4-2. The Lobos added a third in the inning as Beau Capanna scored on an Andre Gregory grounder to extend the lead to 5-2 and force Conn out of the game. DBU made noise in the bottom of the fifth on three consecutive base hits to lead off the inning, but stranded all three after an Austin Listi strikeout and a double-play.

After Coby Weaver came in for relief of Conn in the three-run fifth, Weaver retired eight of the 10 batters he faced before handing the ball over to Sean Boyle at the top of the eighth. Boyle made quick work of the Lobos, retiring the side with 12 pitches. The Patriots cut the lead to 5-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning as Listi scored on an errant throw by Daniel Herrera and Duzenack scored for the third time on a Logan Sepanek single to right field. New Mexico got one back in the top of the ninth off an RBI single by Luis Gonzalez to extend the lead to 6-4. DBU threatened in the final frame of the game after Duce doubled to deep center to knock in Devlin Granberg, but the Patriots got three straight outs with Duce stuck at second base.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - DBU went 6-for-9 to lead off the innings on Saturday.
 - With the exception of a 33-8 win over the Lobos last season, the Patriots only hold a two-run advantage over UNM in the other six meetings.
 - Jameson Hannah, Matt Duce and Austin Listi each have six-game hitting streaks to begin the season, and Listi's extends to 10 games dating back to the end of the 2016 season.
 
COACH DAN HEEFNER – ON HIS TEAM'S COMPETITVENESS
"I thought we did a good job late in the game, and I thought we had more competitive at bats throughout. I didn't like the last two games. Even though we won them, I thought we had a lot of easy outs. I thought we competed better today. We could've chipped away a couple runs here and there, and we could've saved some runs with some mistakes we made.  At this point in he season, you just have to keep learning from it and getting better."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
10 – The Patriots stranded 10 men on base in the loss.
4 – Matt Duce and Garrett Wolforth each picked up their fourth double of the season.
5 – Saturday marked the fifth time in six games that DBU outhit their opponent.
 
UP NEXT
DBU and UNM square off in the rubber match of the weekend series at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Horner Ballpark. MD Johnson (0-0) takes the mound for the Patriots against Jonathan Tripp (1-0) for the Lobos.