THE RUNDOWN
DBU took game one of the Ft. Worth Regional over the Oregon State Beavers, 6-5, to advance to the winner's bracket game on Saturday night. The Patriots (38-15) will now await the winner of the TCU and McNeese State game.
Cole Moore started the scoring against Kevin Abel and the Beavers with a two-run blast in the first inning. Moore jumped all over a hanging change-up and gave the Patriots the early lead. Oregon State got a run in the bottom half of the inning, one that was partially aided by a balk called on Hamel.
In the third, Andrew Benefield walked with the bases loaded to bring in the third run of the game. It was one of five walks the Patriots drew in the inning. Benefield also accounted for the next run, blasting a solo home run off the batters' eye in dead center field in the fifth inning. Jackson Glenn then doubled home the sixth and final run that the Patriots would plate.
Oregon State mustered a comeback in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, with home runs from Ryan Ober and Greg Fuchs. With Fuch's three-run blast in the sixth inning off of Hamel, the Beavers had suddenly cut the game to a 6-5 contest.
The Patriots bullpen came to the rescue, however, and would slam the door over 2.2 innings of work. Peyton Sherlin came on in relief of Dominic Hamel in the seventh inning. Sherlin got the Pats out of the inning, but ran into trouble of his own in the eighth.
Kragen Kechely came out of the pen, making his 98th career appearance, and got out of a jam with runners on second and third with one out. Kechely struck out the first man he faced and then induced a tapper back to the mound to get back in the dugout. He would set the Beavers down in order to secure his second save of the year.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The Patriots are chasing the 40-win mark for the seventh straight season. DBU is one of two active teams (Florida State) with such a streak.
- The Patriots hit the ball much harder than the box score would indicate. A steady 10-mph wind knocked down several balls off of DBU bats that had a chance to leave the yard.
-DBU is now 3-2 all-time against Oregon State and 2-0 against the Beavers in the postseason.
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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
10 – The Pats worked 10 walks today against Oregon State.
24 – Jackson Glenn recorded his 24th multi-hit game this season.
98 – With Kechely's relief appearance today, he is one appearance shy of tying DBU's all-time record at 99 (Michael Smith, 2009-2013).
DANÂ HEEFNERÂ ON KRAGEN KECHELY CLOSING GAME ONE:
"It's huge. We've found ourselves in the loser's bracket before and it makes it hard on your pitching staff. Kragen has been on the mound a lot for us in the past and he brings so much experience. We thought that was a great match-up for us with the righties coming up. There was no question he was the guy for us in that spot."
UP NEXT
DBU awaits their winner's bracket opponent from tonight's TCU vs. McNeese State game. The Patriots are scheduled to play at 6:00pm on Saturday night.
