THE LEAD
The DBU Patriots (37-19) endured two rain delays, shaky defense, and four different pitchers out of their bullpen to defeat the Bradley Braves, 15-9, to open play in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. The Patriot offense tallied 19 hits on the afternoon against Bradley (20-30) pitching as five different DBU hitters recorded multi-hit games and Jameson Hannah finished a triple away from the cycle while collecting three RBI. Evan Sandmann also picked up three hits, including his first career home run to score the final insurance runs for DBU in the bottom the eighth inning.
 
The game started as a back-and-forth affair as the teams traded runs in the early innings. Bradley took the first inning lead thanks in part to three DBU errors to open the game, but Johnson was able to limit the damage to a single run. Bradley scored another run in the second on a single and a triple, but DBU had answers in both of those innings.
 
Back-to-back doubles from Hannah and Devlin Granberg opened the game for the Patriots before a two-out bloop single from Tim Millard scored Granberg in the first inning.  In the second, Hannah and Granberg picked up RBI on groundouts to shortstop to score Garrett Wolforth and Sandmann, who had both singled.
 
The Braves collected four hits in the third inning to score three runs and reclaim the lead and added another run in the fourth as Jimmy Fouse came in out of the bullpen to relieve Johnson. That two-run cushion held until the bottom of the fourth inning when the Patriot bats struck for five runs, including three off the bat of Tim Millard as he launched a no-doubt, three-run blast to left field to cap the scoring. The 10th home run of the season from Millard gave the Patriots a three-run cushion before Bradley scored a lone run once again in the fifth inning. DBU answered with a two-run home run from Hannah in the bottom of the inning, his second and third RBI on the day.
 
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the seventh inning when DBU plated another run as Hannah picked up his fourth hit of the day on a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Duce's single to centerfield. DBU gave up two more runs to Bradley in the top of the eighth inning, but Sandmann gave the Patriots three more runs of insurance with the home run to right centerfield.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- With the win, DBU is now 11-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament since DBU joined the league in 2014.
- After working 3.0 innings today in relief, Jimmy Fouse has gone 11.0 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run over his last four appearances.
- Jameson Hannah and Devlin Granberg combined to go 7-for-12 with six RBI and six runs scored in the top two spots in the DBU batting order.
 
DBU HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON THE OFFENSIVE OUTBURST
"I was pleased with the way we battled at the plate and were able to put together a consistent offensive attack.  We needed all of those runs on a day like this.  I thought the home run by Millard in the fourth inning allowed us to play a bit more relaxed and be ourselves the rest of the way."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7 – Seven of the Patriots hits 19 hits went for extra-bases.
4 – Four hitters in the DBU lineup had three hits or more including Jameson Hannah (4), Matt Duce (3), Devlin Granberg (3), and Evan Sandmann (3).
5 – Jimmy Fouse notched his fifth win of the year to improve to 5-0 on the season.
 
UP NEXT
DBU will face Indiana State on Thursday at Hammons Field in Springfield, Missouri.  First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.