THE LEAD
DBU picked up its third win in its last four games as the Patriots (24-10) evened their series with College of Charleston in a 6-2 victory at the Ballpark at Patriots Point in Charleston, South Carolina, on Saturday. MD Johnson allowed just two runs on five hits through seven innings as he and Herbert Iser neutralized one of the country's top running games.

Iser drove in the game's first run with an RBI single in the second inning to give the Patriots their first lead of the day. After a Cougar solo home run to the short porch in left field tied the game, Ben McConnell and Blayne Jones came through with two-out, two-strike RBI singles of their own in the top of the fourth. Charleston answered with a second solo homer in the fourth, but would not come any closer.

The Cougars entered the weekend sixth in the country with 81 steals on the season. Johnson and Iser, however, were able to snuff out rallies when CofC speedsters reached base. Johnson picked Clay Hunt off of second base in the first inning. Iser caught Chris Graham stealing in the third and Hart in the seventh, both innings that ended without a Cougar run crossing the plate.

Johnson also minimized damage in the second inning by inducing a double play ball immediately before Charleston's first home run of the day. He ended his day by retiring nine straight Cougars.before an error allowed Hart to reach base before he was caught stealing to end the seventh.

Iser padded the Patriot lead with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. In the seventh, Evan Sandmann drove in a run when he reached on a fielder's choice and came around to score on a wild pitch to give DBU two more insurance runs.

Travis Stone provded 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, and Burl Carraway finished the game off with a three-pitch strikeout.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - The Patriots will go for their seventh series win of the season Sunday.
 - Johnson set a DBU Division I era record by making his 50th career start Saturday.
 - Johnson allowed two home runs Saturday after having given up just two all season entering the game.

COACH DAN HEEFNER ON HIS TEAM'S IMPROVED APPROACH
"I thought we did a much better job from an approach standpoint. You look at the number of base hits that were up the middle and the other way, two RBIs for McConnell and Blayne Jones with two out and two strikes on them with runners in scoring position, putting the ball in play to score some runs. So I thought those were all good signs to see."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
25 - Working the count in the No. 2 spot in the lineup, Bryce Ball saw 25 pitches in five plate appearances Saturday.
5 - Patriot batters struck out five times, fewer than in all but three games in 2019. DBU's 34 at-bats were their most in a game with five or fewer strikeouts this season.
255.2 - Johnson passed Jared Stafford for third in career innings pitched, bringing his total to 255.2.

UP NEXT
DBU and College of Charleston play the rubber match of the series at 12:30 EST Sunday. Zach Heaton will take the mound for the Patriots.