THE RUNDOWN
No. 13 DBU secured their first-ever win in a Super Regional over the No. 14 Virginia Cavaliers, 6-5, after another dramatic comeback. Despite a four-hour rain delay, the Patriots closed it out in the ninth to secure a pivotal victory. With the win, DBU (41-16) is now just one win away from the program's first-ever trip to Omaha for the College World Series.

After a scoreless first inning from Dominic Hamel, the Patriots offense jumped all over Cavs' ace Andrew Abbot. River Town singled up the middle to put a runner on for Jackson Glenn. Glenn then barreled a 1-2 fastball deep into the bleachers over the left field wall, making it 2-0 Patriots.

Hamel continued to dominate until the fifth inning. After missing bats and keeping the Virginia bats off balance, the Cavs finally started to square Dominic up, striking back for five runs in the top of the fifth inning.

Fresh off of two of the most memorable comebacks in program history over TCU and Oregon State at last week's Fort Worth Regional, DBU stayed true to their gameplan and began chipping away, getting a run back in the fifth on a fielder's choice and two back in the sixth on an Andres Sosa two-run blast into the bullpen. In the seventh, with the ballgame tied at 5-5, Andrew Benefield pummeled a 2-0 fastball onto the pavilion in right field for his ninth blast of the season.

On the mound, it was a combination of Ray Gaither, Peyton Sherlin, and Zane Russell who shutdown UVA to clinch game one of the series. Gaither's performance was timely, throwing two shutdown innings in response to the Cavalier outburst the inning prior.

For Russell, he had to wait four hours for the rain to clear before making his Super Regional debut. After walking the leadoff hitter, Russell put the next two hitters down to bring one last Cavalier to the plate with the tying runner 90 feet away. On a 2-2 pitch, Max Cotier lined the ball to first, but a diving grab from Andres Sosa ended the game and put DBU on the precipice of college baseball history.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Zane Russell recorded his second save in the season after throwing a scoreless ninth.
- Jackson Glenn's 20th home run of the season places him in a tie with Darick Hall (2016) and Drew Holder (2006) for the third-most home runs in a single-season in DBU's Division I era.
- For the second straight game, Andrew Benefied hit a home run in the seventh inning that gave that DBU the lead.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
6 – DBU made UVA pay with the extra base hit today, accumulating six of them, including three longballs.
12– The Patriots bashed 12 hits, eight of which came against the Cavs' ace.
13 – Virginia struck out 13 times against DBU pitching in game one.

HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON ANOTHER COMEBACK WIN IN THE POSTSEASON
"This team has a flare for the dramatic and a true belief that we are going to come back.  We've seen what the offense has done, but we've also seen what our pitching has done to minimize an inning and that gives our team the chance to make the comebacks that we've been able to pull off.  It's truly a team effort.  It takes the guys on the mound and defense staying locked in and then a belief from everyone that we're never out of a game."

UP NEXT
DBU and Virginia tangle tomorrow at 11:00 AM in game two with a trip to Omaha on the line for the Patriots.