THE LEAD
DBU claimed the first game of Friday's doubleheader and the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both schools with a 7-6 win over Illinois State on Friday evening. In front of a crowd of 1,176 at Horner Ballpark, Camden Duzenack went 2-for-4 with four RBI, highlighted by a go-ahead three-run homerun in the eighth inning.
 
Dalton Higgins (3-0) earned the win with 1 2/3 innings of relief, allowing one run on three hits to go with a strikeout and a walk. Mitch Vogrin (3-2) suffered the loss after giving up the homerun to Duzenack in his one-inning outing. Seth Elledge (6) picked up the save with a scoreless, one-hit ninth inning.
 
DBU got on the board first in the opening frame as Garrett Wolforth doubled to the wall in left-center, knocking in two runs for a 2-0 lead. ISU answered in the top of the second on a leadoff solo shot from Noah Sadler that cut the lead in half. Four batters later, Joe Butler evened the score with an RBI single up the middle. The Patriots went back on top in the bottom of the inning as Luke Bandy led off with a triple and scored on a groundout by Camryn Williams. In the top of the fifth, the Redbirds once again tied it up on another RBI single up the middle off Travis Stone, who came on in relief of starting pitcher Ray Gaither. Gaither finished the day with 4+ innings of work, two strikeouts, five walks and three runs allowed on six hits.
 
After Stone loaded the bases with a walk of Joe Aeilts, ISU took their first lead of the day on a sac fly from Jordan Libman to go up 4-3. DBU brought the game even once again in the bottom of the sixth as a Garrett Wolforth base hit put runners on the corners with two outs, setting up Duzenack's two-out RBI single to make it 4-4. The Redbirds stole back the lead in the top of the seventh after Aeilts singled past the dive of Millard to score Sadler for a 5-4 advantage. Dalton Higgins fell into a bases-loaded jam after giving up a single to Butler, but Higgins set down Bryce Grimm on strikes to escape the inning.
 
ISU extended the lead to 6-4 in the eighth, taking advantage of a Tim Millard error that would've ended the inning, allowing Ryan Hutchinson to reach base and score on the next at-bat on a Sadler double. Duzenack delivered another clutch hit in the bottom of the eighth, blasting a three-run homerun to give the Patriots a 7-6 lead. DBU continued the rally by drawing a pair of walks to load the bases, but Millard struck out to end the inning.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - Duzenack and Garrett Wolforth combined to hit 6-for-8 with six RBI and two runs scored.
 - The Patriots went 5-for-12 with two outs in the victory.
 - Duzenack has now homered in back-to-back games.

COACH DAN HEEFNER - ON DUZENACK'S APPROACH
"I thought Camden did a great job in that at-bat [homerun], but I think it started in his previous at-bat. Down a run with a guy on second with two strikes on him, he goes base hit up the middle. When you have a great approach like that and do a really good job with two strikes, it gives you some more confidence when you do get into that hitters count to let it go and go for one. He got a fastball up in the zone and he was right on time with it."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
13 – The DBU pitching staff forced ISU to strand 13 men on base.
20 – Friday evening marked Seth Elledge's 20^th career save and he is five away from tying Chris Haney for the most in DBU's Division I history.
3 – The Patriots recorded three two-out RBI on Friday.