THE LEAD
No. 22 DBU was down to its last six outs Friday night before mounting a comeback rally in the bottom of the eighth inning, capped off by Luke Bandy's go-ahead three-run home run in a 9-7 win over host Illinois State at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Bandy's blast helped the Patriots (41-16) reach the tournament championship game after Burl Carraway's 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Illinois State (34-23) scored the first four runs of the game in the third and never trailed in the first seven and a half innings, taking a 7-4 lead into the bottom of the eighth. DBU's three-run rally in the fourth inning tied the game at four with an RBI double by Bandy and a two-run double by Jackson Glenn. 

Herbert Iser came to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the eighth and delivered a two-run double just over the outstretched glove of Redbird first baseman Jack Butler. Two pitches later, Bandy sent a blast over the left field fence, putting the Patriots on top 9-7.

Carraway struck out two of the three batters he faced in earning his third save.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - DBU will play for their third MVC Tournament title in four years Saturday.
 - Bandy's homer was the Patriots' second go-ahead blast in the eighth inning or later in 2019 and their first in a game they had not previously led.
 - The Patriots will face the winner of Friday night's game between Indiana State and Illinois State on Saturday for the tournament title. If DBU loses the first game of the day, a rematch will be played Saturday night.

COACH DAN HEEFNER ON BANDY'S HEROICS
"One thing we do with out guys is visualization, where they go through a highlight reel of past things they've done. They always end that with what we call a 'freeze frame' - your greatest moment where you knew everyone in the stadium was looking at you because you just did something special. I think Luke Bandy's got a new 'freeze frame.'"

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
.625 - Herbert Iser is batting .625 (5-for-8) with two doubles, a homer, and four RBIs in the MVC Tournament.
2.0 - Ray Gaither threw a season-high 2.0 innings in his first start since June 5, 2017 against Virginia in the NCAA Fort Worth Regional.
5 - Jimmy Fouse improved to 5-0 after putting out a fire in the seventh and finishing with 1.1 perfect innings and three strikeouts.

UP NEXT
DBU will play at 2:00 pm Saturday against either Indiana State or Illinois State