THE RUNDOWN
DBU swept Illinois State, 3-0, on a Mothers' Day Sunday finale at Horner Ballpark thanks to shutdown pitching. Luke Eldred has become a fixture on the mound for the Patriots on Sunday afternoons and he delivered once again, picking up his third win of the season.

The Patriots (29-11) tallied the first run of the game in the bottom of the second when Andrew Benefield roped an RBI double down the left field line to score Cole Moore. After scoreless frames through the top of the sixth, Jackson Glenn hammered his team-best 13th home run of the season down the right field line. In the bottom of the seventh, DBU tacked on one more when Ryan Wrobleski lifted a sacrifice fly into right field.

Luke Eldred made the start for DBU and was fantastic from the hill for his sixth straight appearance. Eldred recorded an immaculate inning in the second inning, striking out all three Redbirds on just nine pitches. In total, Eldred would throw five more scoreless innings, striking out four, and allowing just one hit. Chandler Arnold would come on in relief and deliver four more innings of shutout baseball, earning his first career save.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The Patriots are keeping Indiana State at bay in the MVC standings. The Trees sit three games back of DBU with just eight conference games to play.
- Eldred's immaculate inning was the first since 2020 when Ray Gaither opened the season with one.
- The win over Illinois State expands the series lead to 23-3 for the Pats and increases their winning streak to seven games in a row over the Redbirds.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
6 – The Patriots have now won six straight games for the first time since March of 2019.
9 – It was nine pitches and nine strikes for Eldred in the second. While there is no complete data base for immaculate innings in NCAA Baseball, there have only been 101 such innings in Major League Baseball.
16.2 – Eldred has thrown 16.2 scoreless innings this season while striking out 18 batters.

DAN HEEFNER ON THE SUNDAY SWEEP:
" Outstanding job on the mound. That's what Luke has been doing for us since he came back. He has elite command and you know exactly what you are going to get when he starts the game. Chandler is really pitching well right now and he's progressing a lot. We won a bunch of different ways this weekend with different weather conditions. It's a good experience and our goal is to just keep getting better each day."

UP NEXT
DBU will host Grambling State for a midweek double header on Tuesday, May 11 with the first pitch of game one scheduled for 3:00pm.