THE LEAD
DBU completed a three-game sweep of Indiana State Sunday with a 9-7 victory at Horner Ballpark.
Bryce Ball homered for the fifth time in four games, and
Burl Carraway earned the win in his first career start.
Ball's homer came in the third inning and gave the Patriots (36-15, 12-6 Missouri Valley Conference) a 3-0 lead. The DBU designated hitter drove a 2-2 pitch over the right field fence to break open the scoring. The Patriots scored three more in the sixth with the help of a wild pitch, a balk, and an RBI double by
Evan Sandmann.
The Sycamores (34-14, 11-7 MVC) made a late push, scoring three runs in the seventh on three hits with the help of an error.
MacGregor Hines held down the fort for the final three innings for his third save of the year.
Jackson Glenn scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to give Hines some breathing room in the ninth inning, as Indiana State stranded the bases loaded to end the game.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Hines tied
Dalton Higgins for sixth in DBU's Division I era with his ninth career save.
- Ball is one home run shy of moving into a five-way tie for the eighth-highest single-season home run total in the DI era.
- With Illinois State's loss to Bradley, the Patriots are tied for first place in the Valley with the Redbirds with one regular season weekend remaining.
COACH DAN HEEFNER ON A STRONG WEEKEND
"I think this weekend was huge for us from a postseason standpoint. I thought we played outstanding Friday and Saturday - as good as we've played all season long. You take out one inning of today's game, and it's something similar. Our goal is always to be the best at the end of a game, end of a series, and end of a season, so I really feel like we're peaking at the right time."
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
1.600 - Ball is slugging 1.600 over his last four games.
8 - The Patriots improved to 8-0 on Sundays in 2019.
50 - Ball became the first Patriot to reach 50 RBIs.
UP NEXT
DBU concludes the regular season with a three-game series at Southern Illinois beginning Thursday.
