THE RUNDOWN
In another close affair with No. 22 Southern Mississippi, DBU (7-3) fell just one run short of the Golden Eagles (7-3) on Saturday in Hattiesburg. The pitcher's duel featured a total of 24 strikeouts and an aggregate .153 batting average between the two squads.
 
USM's Matthew Adams was firing on all cylinders from first pitch. The Golden Eagles' starter punched out four of the first six batters he faced en route to a total of 11 strikeouts on the day over 7.1 innings.
 
In the third inning, DBU broke Adams' momentum. Kodie Kolden began the frame with a single to right-center field, and his teammates, George Specht and Grant Jay, added a double and single respectively to score Kolden.
 
With runners on the corners and no outs, Nathan Humphreys popped out to shortstop Dustin Dickerson, and Nate Rombach grounded into a double play to end the inning.
 
Sophomore Ryan Johnson kept Southern Miss scoreless in the home half of the third, but USM broke through in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run shot by Reece Ewing to put the Golden Eagles ahead, 2-1.
 
After five innings of two-run baseball by Johnson, Head Coach Dan Heefner turned to his reserves. Lefty Preston Tabor was the first relief arm for a Patriots bullpen that held USM to no runs and only two hits in four innings of work. 
 
Alec Baker had the longest outing of the 5 DBU relievers on Saturday afternoon, facing six batters in 1.1 innings pitched.
 
Down, 2-1, in the ninth inning, Jace Grady led off with a free ticket to first base on a pitch that got away from Tyler Martin and caught Grady's leg. Will Armistead immediately took the mound in place of Martin. 
 
The Patriots moved a runner into scoring position when Grady stole second base, and Ethan Mann put himself on base by taking the second hit-by-pitch of the inning.
 
Golden Eagle closer Justin Storm came into the save the game for USM and did just that via two strikeouts to take the series for his club.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Saturday's loss gives DBU three in a row, all to ranked opponents.
- With 10 punch-outs on Saturday, the Patriot pitching staff has thrown double-digit strikeouts in 8 of 10 games this season.
- DBU has gone three consecutive games without a home run. The team did not have such a drought in 2022.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
2 - There were only two extra-base hits combined for DBU and USM.
3 - All three of the Patriots' losses have come by three or fewer runs.
5 - Ryan Johnson has struck out at least five batters in each of his starts this season.
 
UP NEXT
DBU will look to avoid a series sweep by Southern Miss tomorrow at 1:00 pm in Hattiesburg.
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