THE RUNDOWN
For the second straight day, Southeast Missouri defeated No. 22 DBU in extra innings, overcoming a 3-0 deficit in the late innings on Saturday at Horner Ballpark and claiming a 6-5 win over the Patriots to secure the series win.  A brilliant performance on the mound from Chandler Arnold, who worked 5.2 shutout innings and matched a career-high in strikeouts (9) was overshadowed by SEMO's comeback that started in the ninth inning and was capped off by Brett Graber's eventual game-winning single in the top of the 10th.
 
DBU (0-2) started the scoring in the bottom of the second when Blayne Jones drew a bases loaded walk to plate the first run.  In the Patriots' third, Cole Moore blasted his first home run, a towering shot over the wall in right-center to put DBU up 2-0.  In the fourth, the Patriots extended their lead to three when Luke Heefner dashed home on a wild pitch and scored on a head-first dive at home plate, just beating the tag of catcher Andrew Keck.
 
On the mound, Arnold dominated the SEMO (2-0) lineup for five-plus innings, holding the Redhawks to just two hits without surrendering a run.  The Patriots' junior right-hander kept the SEMO hitters off-balance with a three-pitch mix and exited the game in the sixth without allowing a run. 
 
The Redhawks began their comeback in the eighth when Peyton Leeper singled to right field on a 2-2 pitch with two outs to bring home Ty Stauss.  In the ninth, Ryan Malzahn stroked an RBI double to left off of Payton Sherlin to bring SEMO to within one run and one batter later Joel Vaske delivered a pinch-hit three-run homer that cleared the wall in right-center field to give the Redhawks their first lead, 5-3.

DBU refused to go quietly though in the ninth as Blayne Jones reached on a bloop double to shallow right.  Jace Grady then stepped to the plate and crushed a Jason Rackers' fastball over the fence down the right field line to tie the game at five apiece.

In the top of the 10th, SEMO's Brett Graber grounded a two-out single through the right side off of Kyle Rich to bring Andrew Keck in from third to score what proved to be the game-winning run.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU has played in back-to-back extra inning games for the first time since the 2018 season when DBU split a pair of games at Illinois State.
- The freshman tandem of Luke Heefner and Nathan Humphreys have combined to go 6-for-18 (.333) through the first two games.
- After a three-error game on Opening Day, DBU played error-free baseball on Saturday.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
9 - Chandler Arnold matches a career-high in strikeouts with nine. He last struck out nine batters on March 7, 2020, versus Oral Roberts.
2 - DBU struggled to pick up the key hit with runners on base today, going 2-for-14 at the plate with runners on.
3 - Miguel Santos picked up his first career three-hit day as a Patriot, going 3-for-5.
 
UP NEXT
DBU will look to salvage the series on Sunday when they face Southeast Missouri in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Horner Ballpark.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

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