THE RUNDOWN
After weather delayed first pitch by a little over an hour, DBU (25-9, 10-3) took down the Florida Atlantic Owls (22-13, 7-6) to open the weekend. Jace Grady fell just a home run short of the natural cycle, going 3-for-5 with a double, a triple, two runs, and two RBI.
 
The adverse weather impacted not only the time of first pitch but also the Patriots' starting pitcher as Alec Baker took the ball in game one and Ryan Johnson came on in relief.
 
Armando Albert of FAU led off the Owls with a solo homer in the bottom of the first only to be answered by two Patriots runs in the next half inning. Following an Ethan Mann walk in the to start the top of the second, Tom Poole hit his second triple of the season to score Mann and crossed home plate on a Kodie Kolden sacrifice fly for a 2-1 DBU lead.
 
Ryan Johnson relieved Baker in the home half of the second, but inherited runner John Schroeder tied the game on an Albert groundout.
 
From there, the Patriots took over. With the bases loaded in the third, Ethan Mann cleared the bases with a double to left-center field.
 
In the next frame, Luke Heefner and Jace Grady smacked back-to-back doubles for DBU's sixth run of the contest. 
 
The Patriots reached double digits in the sixth thanks to a triple by Grady, a single by Nate Rombach, a double by Mann, stretching the difference to 10-2.
 
Ryan Johnson and Jaron DeBerry worked through some difficult situations to keep the Owls scoreless from the third inning on. The two relievers allowed only four hits while striking out seven batters.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- All nine starters in the DBU lineup reached base on Friday.
- Friday was the second time this year the Patriots scored 10 runs or more without the aid of a home run.
- Jace Grady and Miguel Santos extended their hitting streaks to eight and 11 games respectively.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
5 - Ethan Mann had his fourth game of five RBI or more this season.
6 - Ryan Johnson threw 6.0 scoreless innings of relief.
8 - DBU has an eight-game winning streak for the first time since 2019.
 
UP NEXT
Game two of the series is tomorrow at 3:00 pm CT.
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