THE LEAD
DBU invoked the 10-run rule for the second time in as many games Friday night in a 12-2 win over Indiana State at Horner Ballpark. Bryce Ball and Blayne Jones each homered and combined to drive in seven runs to back Jordan Martinson's gem.

The Sycamores (34-12, 11-5 Missouri Valley Conference) struck first with two runs on three hits in the top of the first, but Ball's two-run home run to right field tied the game in the bottom of the frame. 

Martinson shut Indiana State down the rest of the night. He held the Sycamores to those two runs on five hits through 7.0 innings with seven strikeouts and just one walk. He allowed just four baserunners after the first inning with the help of sterling plays in the outfield by Evan Sandmann and Luke Bandy that robbed extra bases, as well as hit-saving stop by Jones at second base.

Jones put the Patriots (34-15, 10-6 MVC) on top in the fourth, when he cleared the left field fence with a three-run homer. The seventh inning saw the biggest DBU rally of the night, as Ball drove in a run with a sac fly, Jackson Glenn and Sandmann added RBI singles, and two more runs came across on a Sycamore error.

Ball followed Jones' leadoff double in the eighth with an RBI single up the middle and scored the game's final run on Hunter Vansau's walkoff pinch-hit sac fly.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - Martinson moved into fifth place in DBU's Division I era in single-season strikeouts with 93, one short of tying Darick Hall's 2016 total of 94 for fourth.
 - The Patriots scored in double digits in back-to-back games for the third time in 2019.
 - Martinson tied Cy Sneed for third in the DI era in career wins with 20 and tied Sneed and Randall Taylor for second in career starts wth 49.

COACH DAN HEEFNER ON MARTINSON'S COMPOSURE
"I'm really proud of Jordan Martinson. He's done that a number of times this year. That's what veterans are able to do. They make adjustments, but I think one thing that allowed him to make that adjustment was for us to score and tie it back up."

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
5 - The Patriots improved to 5-1 when allowing a run in the top of the first.
3 - Ball's homer was his third in as many at-bats
4 - Jones' four-hit game was the first of his career.

UP NEXT
DBU and Indiana State resume the series Saturday night at Horner Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 8:30 pm and will be broadcast on ESPNU.