THE LEAD
On Wednesday night in Huntsville, Texas, DBU (30-18) jumped out to a quick first inning lead, but an offensive explosion from Sam Houston (32-17) in the second inning ultimately allowed the Bearkats to hold on for a 7-5 win over the Patriots. The DBU offense outhit the Bearkats, 13-7, but only one of those hits came with runners in scoring position as the Patriots stranded nine on the evening. Trevor Conn (2-1) was saddled with the loss, while Jimmy Fouse did the bulk of the work out of the bullpen for DBU, throwing 3.2 effective innings to keep the Patriots in the ballgame.
 
DBU scored early as four first-inning hits turned into three runs, with the big blow coming off the bat of Camden Duzenack, whose two-out double scored Jameson Hannah and Matt Duce. Duzenack came across to score as a strike three wild pitch to Garrett Wolforth allowed the senior to cross the plate from third base.
 
The Bearkats answered in the second inning off Patriot starter Trevor Conn and reliever Gavin Fritz with six runs on four hits, two hit batters, and a wild pitch. The lead increased to four runs in the fifth inning as Jimmy Fouse came on and walked the first batter he faced ahead of a double and a sacrifice fly.
 
For the Bearkats, Seth Ballew came on in relief of starter Colin Cameron to start the second inning and quieted the Patriot offense after their first inning outburst. The lefthander held DBU at bay until the seventh inning when Devlin Granberg singled up the middle and Austin Listi launched his 16th homerun of the season to cut the deficit to two runs.
 
Fouse settled in after his first two batters and made quick work of the Bearkats to keep the deficit manageable for the DBU offense. The sophomore right-hander finished his outing with 3.2 innings pitched while allowing only the single run on one hit with four strikeouts. Dalton Higgins recorded the final out in the eighth inning in relief of Fouse by recording a strikeout with the bases loaded.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- With the loss DBU falls to 10-12 away from Horner Ballpark this year.
- Austin Listi tied Austin Knight for the most games started (215) in DBU's Division I era.
- Camden Duzenack's double gave him his 219th career hit, placing him in a tie with Ryan Behmanesh, Drew Holder, and Justin Wall for the seventh most hits in DBU's Division I history.
 
DBU HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER IN THE BEARKATS' BIG SECOND INNING
"We had the momentum early, but they were able to put some hits together in the second and then scored two runs on the sac bunt to take the lead.  Usually the team that's able to take advantage of free bases is going to end up winning the game and that was the case tonight."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
45 – Austin Listi moved into a tie with Trevor Head for the second most home runs all-time in DBU's Division I history with 45.
9 – The first four hitters in the DBU lineup (Jameson Hannah, Devlin Granberg, Austin Listi, and Matt Duce) accounted for nine of the team's 13 hits.
3 – Jameson Hannah hit his team-leading third triple of the year.
 
UP NEXT
DBU opens a three-game series at Horner Ballpark on Friday against Bradley University.  First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.