THE LEAD
No. 23 DBU completed the series win in Sunday's rubber match, defeating New Mexico 7-6 in 11 innings. Tim Millard hit a walkoff three-run homerun in the bottom of the 11^th and finished the game 2-for-4.
 
Travis Stone (1-1) earned the win after pitching two innings of relief, despite giving up two go-ahead runs for the Lobos in the 11^th. Drew Gillespie (0-1) suffered the loss after allowing the walkoff blast.
 
In the opening half inning, UNM's Luis Gonzalez reached base on a walk and worked his way to third with just one away, but MD Johnson got a groundout and strikeout to keep the Lobos off the board. DBU struck first in the bottom of the opening frame as Matt Duce drew a two-out walk and scored on a Sepanek double down the left field line. The Patriots added a second run in the second inning on a solo homerun by Austin Listi over the center-field wall. UNM got one back in the top of the third as Beau Capanna led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on a Luis Gonzalez single and scored on a sac fly from Andre Gregory. DBU answered in the bottom half of the inning on a solo shot from Sepanek to extend the lead to 3-1.
 
The Lobos threatened in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with a walk of Danny Collier and forcing Johnson out of the game in favor of freshman Ray Gaither. The newcomer forced Carl Stajduhar to groundout to escape the jam and preserve the 3-1 lead. MD Johnson finished with four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings of work, allowing the one run on three hits. After Sepanek's solo blast in the third, Jonathan Tripp faced the minimum amount of hitters in the next three innings before handing the ball over to James Harrington. Looking for an insurance run in the seventh, the Patriots got a leadoff double from Austin Listi, who advanced to third on a sac bunt by Tim Millard. Harrington retired the next two DBU hitters to strand Listi.
 
The Patriots got the insurance run they were seeking in the next inning via a solo homerun off the bat of Devlin Granberg, landing on the hill over the left field wall for a 4-1 advantage. Gaither remained in the game for the ninth, but UNM finally found an answer to the freshman, scoring two runs on three hits to cut the lead to 4-3 with one out. After Gavin Fritz allowed a four-pitch walk, Dan Heefner again called upon the bullpen for Dalton Higgins, who allowed an RBI single to Hayden Schilling on a full-count to tie the ballgame. Higgins forced a pair of grounders to end the top of the ninth. Jonathan Tripp's brother, Christian, came in for the bottom of the ninth and retired the side to force the game into extras.
 
After Jared Mang reached on an error in the top of the 10^th, DBU turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Robby Campillo, the Lobos' third catcher of the day, led off the 11^th with a stand-up double to right-center. He advanced to third on a groundout and scored two batters later on an RBI single from Schilling. UNM added a second run as Gonzalez scored on a groundout by Collier. In the bottom of the 11th, the first two Patriots got aboard and, after a Listi fielder's choice, Millard stepped up to the plate. Facing a 2-0 count, he took a fastball over the left-field wall for the win.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - The win in 11 innings was the first extra inning game for DBU in 2017.
 - Granberg's eighth-inning homerun was his first career homerun as a Patriot.
 - Sunday marked the first time that Jonathan Tripp pitched past the fifth inning in eight career starts.
 
COACH DAN HEEFNER – ON THE TEAM'S ATTITUDE
"They did a super job. It started in the dugout. Even after we gave up the two runs, I thought everyone stayed real positive about it."
 
TIM MILLARD – ON THE WALK-OFF CELEBRATION
"It was surreal. To see all those guys that we've been working with everyday celebrating, it's a blast."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
17 – After scoring 50 runs in last year's three game series with UNM, DBU mustered only 17 across three contests in this season's series.
10 – The Patriots' pitching staff forced the Lobos to strand 10 men on base.
31 – Austin Listi's homerun was the 31^st of his career, tying him for sixth all-time in DBU's Division I history.
 
UP NEXT
DBU travels down the road to Arlington to take on Metroplex foe UT-Arlington at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening.