THE LEAD
One night after being held to two runs, No. 23 DBU's offense erupted in an 11-6 win at Southern Illinois on Friday in Carbondale, Illinois. Bryce Ball extended his home run streak to six games, as the Patriots (37-16, 13-7 Missouri Valley Conference) scored 11 runs for the third time in their last six games.

MD Johnson got off to a slow start on the mound, hitting the first two batters and walking the next to load the bases. Those first two batters came around to score, but a double play and a long fly out helped Johnson escape. The senior from Red Oak held the Salukis (24-26, 5-15 MVC) to three hits in their first 15 official at-bats, finishing with three runs allowed through 6.0 innings with eight strikeouts and one walk.

Christian Boulware's first home run since March 12 started the Patriots on the comeback trail in the second. Back-to-back RBI singles by Jimmy Glowenke and Jackson Glenn put the Patriots on top in the third, followed by Evan Sandmann's two-run single off the first base bag.

Ball's seventh homer in six games came in the sixth inning on a 3-1 pitch that cleared the left-centerfield fence. Augie Isaacson added his third homer of the year in the ninth inning to put the finishing touches on the Patriot onslaught.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - Johnson became DBU's Division I era career strikeout leader with his 263rd career punchout in the sixth.
 - Ball moved into a tie for the sixth-highest single-season home run total in the DI era.
 - With Illinois State's loss to Evansville, the Patriots can claim a Missouri Valley Conference regular season title with a win or a Redbird loss Saturday.

COACH DAN HEEFNER ON JOHNSON'S RECOVERY
"We've seen him do that a couple times this year where he hasn't had it early, and he's been able to make an adjustment. He's our guy, and he's got great stuff, and we needed him to go, too. In order to have success this weekend, we could not go to our bullpen too early,.. I thought he made a great adjustment between innings and cruised the rest of the way.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3 - Glowenke collected both his third four-hit game and his third two-double game Friday.
6 - Jarod Bayless tied a career high with six strikeouts in his 2.0 innings of relief.
7.54 - DBU averages 7.54 runs in games immediately after being held to three or fewer.

UP NEXT
DBU and SIU conclude the regular season Saturday at 2:00 pm at Itchy Jones Stadium.