THE LEAD
DBU scored a season-high 20 runs on Friday night on the way to a 20-12 win over Indiana State at Horner Ballpark. Austin Listi and Matt Duce combined to hit 5-for-10 with three homeruns and nine RBI to fuel the high-powered Patriot offense.
 
Dalton Higgins (6-0) earned the win after pitching 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, striking out five Sycamores. Tyler Grauer (0-1) suffered the loss, giving up two runs on four hits in 2/3 innings of work. Gavin Fritz (1) picked up the 3 1/3 inning save, striking out four and allowing just one hit.
 
DBU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the opening frame as Matt Duce hit a two-run homerun over the right field wall. Three batters later, Evan Sandmann doubled to left-center to bring home Devlin Granberg and make it 3-0. In the bottom of the second, Austin Listi hit the second homerun of the game, a three-run blast to extend the lead to 6-0. The Patriots tacked on two more in the inning by way of a Garrett Wolforth RBI single and a balk that allowed Camden Duzenack to score.
 
ISU responded with an eight-run third inning, highlighted by a three-run homerun off the bat of Dane Giesler. Ray Gaither proceeded to give up four straight base hits before Dan Heefner went to his bullpen for Landon Wilson. Gaither finished his outing with eight earned runs on nine hits to go with three strikeouts. Wilson and Dalton Higgins recorded the final two outs of the inning to escape the jam. Listi put DBU back on top, 10-8, in the bottom of the third with his second homerun in as many at bats. The Patriots put up another five spot in the fourth inning, led by a two-run double by Duce and a two-run homerun from Duzenack.
 
Wolforth led off the next inning by sending the fourth homerun of the night over the left-field wall to extend the lead to 16-8. Later in the inning, Jameson Hannah scored on a wild pitch to make it 17-8. The Sycamores brought the lead back to five after a two-run Kyle Moore homerun and a two-run triple from Tyler Friis off of reliever Kragen Kechely. Gavin Fritz came in for relief of Kechely and struck out the final batter to bring an end to the inning. In the bottom of the seventh, Jameson Hannah advanced 180 feet on a wild pitch and an errant throw to make it 18-12. DBU reached 20 runs in the bottom of the eighth, taking advantage of a pair of wild pitches and a passed ball.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - The last time the Sycamores gave up 20 runs was a 20-12 loss to DBU on February 19, 2011, in Dallas.
 - DBU is now 12-0 when scoring double digit runs.
 - The Patriots matched their season-long four game win streak.

COACH DAN HEEFNER - ON THE OFFENSIVE RESPONSE TO THE THIRD INNING
"Yeah, they did a great job of getting two right back in the bottom of the third there and then five the next inning and the thing I thought was great was there was the mentality did not change at all. Honestly, in that third inning, I thought Ray Gaither was throwing really well. I think if things go a little bit differently, then he goes for us, but it was a great team win and they did a good job of plugging away.

MATT DUCE - ON HITTING WITH TWO STRIKES AND TWO OUTS
"It was a long game. It just seemed like guys were locked in. Something we talked about all week in practice was being tougher with two strikes. I think you could tell how locked in we were just by two-strike at-bats. Guys were laying off balls in the dirt, which is something we've struggled with. Also, the same goes for having two outs. Whenever an offense gets runs with two outs, that means you're locked in. That's really how you win ballgames, especially deep in games."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
37 – Matt Duce has reached base safely in all 37 games this season.
42 – Austin Listi now has 42 career homeruns and is three shy of Trevor Head for second in DBU's Division I history.
15 – Dalton Higgins earned his 15^th career win, which is tied with Chris Haney and Ryan Millard for sixth in the school's Division I era.
 
UP NEXT
DBU and ISU square off in the second game of the weekend series on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Jordan Martinson (4-3) takes the mound for the Patriots against Tyler Ward (3-2) for the Sycamores.