THE LEAD
DBU scored nine runs in the first two innings and held off a ninth-inning rally in an 11-8 victory over No. 11 Virginia (43-16) behind the right arm of Ray Gaither and some hot hitting. Gaither picked up the win to prolong the DBU (42-20) season by striking out six in seven innings and allowing only four hits. The Patriot offense blasted three more home runs to bring their tournament total to 11 and also were the beneficiaries of seven walks and four hit by pitches from Cavalier pitching.
 
The Cavaliers jumped out to an early one-run lead against Gaither after two walks and a soft single in the first inning, but Virginia pitching returned the favor in the Patriot half of the frame. DBU opened the game with four free passes, two walks and two hit by pitches to tie the game at one without swinging the bat. Tim Millard then singled up the middle with the bases loaded to score two more and Camden Duzenack singled and Jon Skidmore walked with the bases loaded to complete the DBU scoring in the first inning with five runs.
 
The Patriots then increased the lead to 9-1 in the second inning with the big blast coming off the bat of Austin Listi with Devlin Granberg aboard with a single. Listi set the single-season record for home runs at DBU with his 23rd of the season, besting the mark Ryan Goins set in 2009, and increasing the lead to six. A couple UVA errors helped push across two more runs for the DBU offense and through two innings, the Patriots held an eight-run advantage.
 
In the fifth inning, the Cavaliers had a chance to climb back into the ballgame as they loaded the bases against Gaither with nobody out. The freshman right-hander, however, was up to the task as he induced an infield double play grounder and then punched out Pavin Smith to limit the damage to only a single run. Neither team scored again until the seventh inning. In fact, for DBU, the offense did not record a hit from the second inning until the bottom of that inning. Duzenack notched the first hit in five innings for the Patriots, and gave them an extra run, by launching his 15th home run of the season deep to left field.
 
With the 10-3 lead, and after 116 pitches, the night was done for Gaither after seven complete innings. Travis Stone came out of the DBU bullpen and threw a scoreless eighth inning before Listi launched another home run to straightaway centerfield to move the lead to eight runs. For Listi, the home run marked his second straight multi-home run game and moved him to 55 RBI on the season.

Virginia did all they could to make the game interesting with their final three outs, staging a five-run rally off Stone in the top of the ninth, highlighted by a three-run home run off the bat of Pavin Smith. Dalton Higgins took over on the mound and retired the final two batters to clinch the Patriot victory and pick up his sixth save of the season.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - The win sends DBU to their third consecutive regional final after advancing to the 2015 Dallas Regional and 2016 Lubbock Regional title games.
 - The Patriots lineup went 3-for-4 with runners on third and less than two outs in the win.
 - Austin Listi is 6-for-11 with four home runs and five RBI in the regional.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
11 - DBU has blasted 11 home runs across three games in the Fort Worth Regional.
0 - The Patriots' pitching staff held the Cavaliers hitless with two outs (0-for-9).
7 - Ray Gaither set a career high for innings pitched on Monday with seven.

UP NEXT
DBU will face host-school TCU in the Fort Worth Regional Final at 7:20 p.m. on Monday evening at Lupton Stadium.