THE RUNDOWN
DBU evened their three-game series with Evansville with a 4-3 win over the Purple Aces on Saturday afternoon at Horner Ballpark.  Leading by a run with one on and one out in the top of the ninth, Zane Russell induced a double play off the bat of Mark Shallenberger to close out the game.

The Patriots (32-18, 10-7) found themselves down early when Shallenberger led off the game with the first of his two home runs.  Evansville (29-19, 13-4) would strike for one more run on an RBI single from Eric Roberts in the first before Chandler Arnold escaped to leave the bases loaded.

Purple Aces' starter Nick Smith kept DBU off the scoreboard and hitless through the first three innings. In the home-half of the fourth, Ryan Wrobleski was hit by a pitch and two batters later Blayne Jones drove his team-leading 12th home run of the year over the left-center field wall to tie the game. 

Tied at two apiece in the bottom of the fifth, Jace Grady laced a two-out single to set the table for Wrobleski. On the first pitch of his at-bat, Wrobleski drilled a deep fly to center that went over the leaping attempt of Shallenberger in center and off the wall, scoring Grady as Wrobleski raced to third with his third triple of the season. One batter later, Cole Moore lined a single into center to put DBU up, 4-2.

Following 4.1 innings from Chandler Arnold and a scoreless inning of work from Alec Baker, Bubba Hall entered in the top of the sixth to retire the first two batters he faced.

Evansville would pull to within a run though on a Shallenberger homer to center in the seventh.  From there, Hall settled in to hold the Aces scoreless through the eighth. 

Zane Russell entered in the ninth as the Patriots' third reliever and after issuing a one-out walk, Shallenberger grounded sharply to first baseman Cole Moore who fired to Blayne Jones at second and then received the throw back to first to close out the game on a double play.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 
- The win pulls DBU to within 3.0 games of both Evansville and Southern Illinois for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
- Zane Russell induced his first double play of the season to end the game. It was also Mark Shallenberger's first double play to ground into this year.
- Three Patriot legends were honored on Senior Day prior to today's game including Luke Eldred, Blayne Jones, and Peyton Sherlin.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 
13 - Ryan Wrobleski extended his hit streak to a career-high 13 games with his second straight two-hit game.
36 – Blayne Jones hit his 36th career home run which ties him with Drew Holder (2004-2006) for the sixth-most in DBU's Division I era.
10 - Arnold, Baker, Hall, and Russell combined to strikeout 10 Evansville batters.



ON DECK
DBU and Evansville meet in the rubber-match of their three-game series on Sunday at Horner Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

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