THE LEAD
The DBU Baseball team earned its first series win of the season Saturday, defeating Kent State 8-4. A three-run first inning and five straight strikeouts to start the game by Luke Eldred helped the Patriots (2-0) set the tone early.

Bryce Ball's first career hit was a first-inning double that drove in the Patriots' first run of the day. A passed ball and an error by Kent State (0-2) pushed across two more DBU runs in the bottom of the first.

Eldred struck out seven with one walk through 4.1 innings pitched. Parker Towns earned the win in relief with 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing one hit no walks while striking out one. Left fielder Augie Isaacson helped keep runs off the board with a pair of outfield assists, one at home plate to end the top of the second and one at second as part of a fifth-inning-ending double play.

Luke Bandy delivered the Patriots' first home run of 2019, a two-run blast to left field in the sixth inning. Austin Bell added a two-run single to complete the four-run frame.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - DBU earned its sixth straight season-opening series win.
 - The Patriots will look to start five of the last six seasons with series sweeps on Sunday.
 - Ball, Bell, and Herbert Iser each recorded their first hits as Patriots on Saturday.

DBU HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON THE SPEEDY ISAACSON'S ENERGY
"He played some great defense. He's ultra-aggressive, sometimes a little too aggressive. You love having a guy like that, and if you're going to make a mistake, we'd rather make a mistake while being aggressive."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3 - The Patriots were 3-for-3 stealing bases Saturday, as Isaacson, Bell, and Bandy each swiped a bag.
31 - Jimmy Glowenke extended his reached-base streak to 31 games Saturday.
7 - Seven different Patriots recorded hits Saturday.

UP NEXT
DBU and Kent State conclude the series at 12:00 p.m. at Horner Ballpark on Sunday. MD Johnson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will face John Schreiber (0-0, 0.00 ERA).