THE RUNDOWN
DBU used a season-high six home runs from six different players and held on in the ninth inning to close out an 8-6 win over the San Diego Toreros at Fowler Park on Saturday in San Diego, California.  With the win, DBU (5-5) evened the series and will play the deciding game on Sunday.
 
The Patriots jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over San Diego (5-4) when Miguel Santos delivered the first home run of his career with a two-run shot off of Brycen Mautz over the wall in right.  The Patriots added to their lead in the third when Jace Grady smashed his third home run of the season with a blast to right on an 0-2 pitch.  DBU would make it 4-0 when Nate Rombach crushed the first pitch he saw over the wall in left with two outs in the fourth.

San Diego's Kevin Sim put the Toreros on the board in their half of the fourth as he hit his third home run of the series, a solo shot that cleared the left field fence and cut the Patriot lead to three. 

DBU answered with a run in the fifth as Cole Moore sent a towering shot over the right centerfield wall for his team-leading fourth round-tripper of the year.  The Toreros got on the comeback trail in their half of the fifth as a pair of two-run homers from Dustin Allen and Jack Costello tied the game at five and chased Patriot starter Chandler Arnold from the mound after 4.1 innings of work.
 
George Specht answered the call in the sixth with a solo blast left to put the Patriots on top for good.  Blayne Jones followed with a two-run shot in the top of the seventh to go up 8-5.

San Diego responded with one run in the bottom the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Jack Costello to pull the Toreros to within two. 
 
Leading 8-6 in the bottom of the ninth, San Diego put the tying run on first base with one out when Zach Heaton came out of the pen in relief of Bubba Hall.  Heaton induced a ground ball off the bat of Cody Jefferis to first baseman Cole Moore and after stepping on the bag at first Moore threw a dart to second base where Blayne Jones applied the tag to complete the double play and close out the game.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Ryan Johnson earned his first career win after allowing one run in 2.1 innings of work.
- Bubba Hall held San Diego scoreless in 1.2 innings out of the pen.
- Zach Heaton recorded his first career save after closing out the ninth inning.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
6 - DBU's six home runs were the most by the Patriots since they hit six on May 26, 2018, against Bradley in the MVC Tournament at Horner Ballpark.
3 - The first three Patriots in the batting order all had two-hit days including Jace Grady, Blayne Jones, and Cole Moore.
15 - San Diego's Brycen Mautz struck out a career-high 15 batters.
 
UP NEXT
DBU will face San Diego in the rubber-match on Sunday at Fowler Park.  First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. (CST).

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