THE LEAD
Jordan Martinson was dazzling on Friday night against the Central Arkansas Bears, as the sophomore lefthander led the DBU Patriots (19-15) to a 4-0 win in the second game of a non-conference series in Conway, Arkansas. Martinson twirled seven shutout innings while striking out a career-high 11 batters and walking only one. Evan Sandmann led the way for the Patriot offense with two hits while four different DBU batters collected an RBI. 
 
The scoring started in the top of the third when Luke Stratman doubled to lead off the inning against UCA (19-17) starter Davenport  and Evan Sandmann followed with a single through the right side of the infield. Sandmann alertly moved to second base as the throw from right field went home and his attentive baserunning led to a Patriot run. Stratman scored on Jordan Hand's groundball to shortstop and Sandmann, instead of being erased on a double play, was able to score from third base the following batter as Jameson Hannah grounded out to the right of the mound.
 
The game remained scoreless until the seventh inning as both starting pitchers had settled into a groove and allowed only a combined six hits through six innings. In that seventh inning, however, the Patriots struck quickly to increase their lead to 3-0. Matt Duce tripled to the gap in left centerfield to lead off the frame and, two pitches later, Camden Duzenack plated him with a long flyball to left field.
 
One inning later, the Patriots finally got into the UCA bullpen after three hits in the inning scored the fourth run of the game off Davenport. Tim Millard capped the barrage off the Bear starter with a hustle double into the left center gap that scored Sandmann, who had singled sharply to centerfield with two strikes. The Patriots stranded two runners on base against UCA reliever, Gavin Tillery, but Dalton Higgins came on for DBU to open the bottom of the eighth inning and the junior righthander moved quickly through the Bear lineup over the final two frames. Higgins struck out four batters in those two innings, moving the total to 15 for Patriot pitching on the night.
 
With the win, DBU evened the series at one game apiece and look to win their seventh series on the 2017 season on Saturday.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Jordan Martinson's 11 strikeouts were the most by a Patriot pitcher since Colin Poche fanned 14 batters against Missouri State on May 13, 2016.
- The trio of Luke Stratman, Evan Sandmann, and Jordan Hand at the bottom of the DBU order accounted for four of the Patriots' six hits.
- After not having a quality start this year, Ray Gaither and Jordan Martinson have posted back-to-back quality starts for the Patriots.
 
DBU HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON JORDAN MARTINSON'S 11-STRIKEOUT PERFORMANCE
"He had a great start.  He located really well.  He threw some great breaking balls, but it was the fastball that was really good for him tonight.  Not all of his fastballs are the same.  He had some extra zip and some deception on it and he was able to take advantage of that tonight."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
15 – The 15 strikeouts between Jordan Martinson and Dalton Higgins are the most by the Patriots in a single game this year.
4 – DBU notched their fourth shutout of the season.
34 – Matt Duce extended his streak of reaching base safely in all 34 games this year with a triple in the seventh inning.
 
UP NEXT
The rubber match between DBU and Central Arkansas is scheduled for Saturday afternoon with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.