THE RUNDOWN
In its Conference USA debut, the DBU Baseball team (12-6, 1-0 C-USA) defeated Florida International (11-8, 0-1 C-USA) in a dramatic walk-off, extra-innings win. Nate Rombach played hero in the bottom of the 10th when he hit a two-strike fastball over the left field wall of Horner Ballpark to end the game. It was his second home run of the night.
 
The first three Panthers singled to start the game. Following a strikeout, they added another two hits to drive in their first three runs. A throwing error allowed the fourth run of the inning.
 
In the bottom of the second, Kodie Kolden led off with a double and was immediately driven in by Luke Heefner, who singled to left field to put the Patriots on the board.
 
In the next frame, with runners on second and third, Kolden earned his sole RBI of the evening when he grounded out to the shortstop, Steven Odina, to score Miguel Santos.
 
Up, 4-2, FIU used only two hits in the fourth to add to its tally. A sacrifice fly, a bases-loaded hit by pitch, and a two-RBI single extended the Panther advantage to a game-high six runs.
 
The Patriots answered the bottom half of the inning via a two-run homer by Nate Rombach to minimize the difference back to four.
 
The momentum began to shift in the sixth when Ethan Mann, George Specht, and Grant Jay loaded the bases. Down in the count, 1-2, Nathan Humphreys, who represented the tying run, sent a fly ball over the right field wall for a grand slam.
 
Reece Beuter and Brady Rose kept the Panthers at bay while Cameron Knox did the same for the opposition despite a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth.
 
After Rose faced the minimum in the top of the 10th, Rombach took matters into his own hands, turning a 1-2 pitch from Knox into a line-drive, walk-off home run for DBU.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU won its first ever Conference USA game.
- Both Reece Beuter and Brady set season-high in strikeouts with four and six respectively.
- With 15 punch-outs on Friday, Patriot pitching has fanned 15 or more batters in 5 games this season.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3 - Nathan Humphrey's sixth-inning grand slam gives the Patriots three on the year.
20 - Friday's win was the 20th walk-off victory for DBU at Horner Ballpark since it opened in 2013.
50 - With a swipe of second base in the sixth, Jace Grady now has 50 steals in his time at dbu. He is already the program Division I record holder for career stolen bases.

HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON REECE BEUTER AND THE BULLPEN
"To me, a big thing there was Beuter.... I thought he did a super job for us. And really that changed the momentum of the whole game.... You just got to chip away when you can, and we feel like, with the bullpen that we have, that we're going to be able to stop [an opponent] late. Every run we can get, and every run we can hold them to early could be the ball game."
 
UP NEXT
The Patriots compete in their first Conference USA series this weekend at Horner Ballpark. Game one against the Florida International Panthers is on Friday at 6:30 pm.
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