THE RUNDOWN
No. 3 DBU avenged its opening-round loss to No. 2 Southern Mississippi at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional, eliminating the Golden Eagles with a 9- win Sunday. The Patriots hit five home runs in back of Luke Eldred's heroic eight-inning effort on the mound.

Devlin Granberg led off the bottom of the first with a home run to put the Patriots (42-20) on top. The hit was Granberg's 108^th of the season, giving him sole possession of DBU's all-time single-season hits record. Matt Duce's 10^th home run of the season, a solo shot, extended the lead to 2-0 in the second.

Eldred faced essentially the only turbulence he encountered all day in the third inning, walking a batter and allowing a game-tying, two-run homer.

A dropped popup allowed Luke Bandy to score the go-ahead run in the bottom of the third, and the Patriots would not look back.

Eldred retired nine straight batters after the third-inning homer. Between the third and eighth innings, he held Southern Mississippi (44-18) scoreless on one hit and one walk. His eight innings pitched and seven strikeouts Sunday both equaled career highs.

Garrett Wolforth's three-run homer that cleared the right field bullpen broke a string of four straight one-run innings in the fifth. Tim Millard followed with his team-leading 16^th blast of the year, a line drive that snuck over the fence in the left field corner. Blayne Jones, in a pinch-hitting role, drove in DBU's ninth and final run with a seventh-inning single.

Eldred allowed a single and a home run to start the ninth inning before giving way to Jimmy Fouse, who recorded the final three outs for his sixth straight scoreless outing.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The Patriots will face host Arkansas at 7:00 p.m. Sunday night in DBU's fourth straight Regional final. If the Patriots win, the two teams will square off again on Monday to determine who will advance to the Super Regional.

- Eldred tied Trevor Conn (5/4 vs. Evansville) for the longest outing by a DBU starter this season.

- Granberg finished the game with 110 hits on the season, the most in college baseball sing Kennesaw State's Max Pentecost collected 113 base hits in 2014.

COACH DAN HEEFNER ON ELDRED'S IRON MAN PERFORMANCE 

"To say he gave us everything we asked for and more would be an understatement. It was huge, not only for the win, but to save our bullpen, too, so we have some guys who are fresh for tonight's game as well."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
.442 – Devlin Granberg raised his season average to .442 on the season. The Patriots' Division I single-season record is .413, set in 2011 by Jason Krizan.

5 – The Patriots' five homers tied for the third-highest single-game total of the year.

10 – Duce became the fifth different Patriot to record his 10^th homer of the season with his second-inning round tripper.

 
UP NEXT
DBU will takes on Arkansas at 7:00 p.m. Sunday with the Fayetteville Regional Championship on the line. Kody Funderburk will take the mound for the Patriots. The Razorbacks will send Isaiah Campbell to the hill.