THE LEAD
Jordan Martinson was outstanding in his start at Southern Illinois University (23-21, 6-5) on Saturday afternoon as the DBU Patriots (26-16, 7-4) defeated the Salukis, 4-2, to even the three-game series at one win apiece. Martinson (5-3) allowed two runs in seven-plus innings while walking two and throwing only 89 pitches. Dalton Higgins relieved the left-hander with two aboard in the eighth inning and completed the game to pick up his third save on the season.
 
The Patriots scored single runs in both the fourth and the seventh innings with RBI from Camryn Williams and Austin Listi. Both of those runs came across with two outs in their respective frames. In the eighth, Tim Millard and Luke Bandy added insurance runs as Millard doubled home Evan Sandmann and Bandy plated Garrett Wolforth when his two-out groundball was not fielded cleanly at third base.
 
Both of the Saluki runs came across in the eighth inning as Martinson allowed a walk and a base hit to open the frame. Higgins came in and allowed those two inherited runners to score after a couple of base hits from the Salukis, but limited the damage to two runs by inducing a double play ball to Tim Millard to prevent anything further.
 
 THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Jordan Martinson notched his second quality start in his last three outings.
- DBU is now 10-2 against Southern Illinois since joining the Missouri Valley Conference in 2014.
- The Patriots have not made an error in each of the first two games against the Salukis.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3 - The Salukis had three runners erased on the bases in one form or another, as Martinson had a pickoff at first, a caught stealing on a pickoff to first, and Evan Sandmann threw out a runner trying to go first to third on a base hit.
3 - The Patriot defense also turned three double plays in the game.
3 - Devlin Granberg registered his fifth three-hit game of the season, going 3-of-5 with a pair of doubles.
 
UP NEXT
DBU and Southern Illinois meet in the second game of a doubleheader and the series finale on Saturday at 4:55 p.m.