THE RUNDOWN
After giving up a 4-1 lead in the fifth and trailing by five runs at the seventh-inning stretch, DBU (28-9) scored eight runs in their last two offensive frames to defeat UT Arlington (19-18) in thrilling fashion. Tuesday's win at Horner Ballpark extended the Patriots' winning stretch to 11 games, one shy of the program record.
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Solo home runs ruled the early innings for DBU as
Jace Grady,
Ethan Mann, and
Kodie Kolden each hit one in the first two frames.
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UTA answered in the top of the third with a single, walk, and double to push Wilson Galvan across home plate, but a wild pitch in the bottom half of the inning allowed
Miguel Santos to match the run, keeping DBU ahead, 4-1.
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A wild fifth turned over the ball game. The Mavericks logged six hits, four of which did not leave the infield, to will four runs on the board for a 5-4 UTA advantage.
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Some small ball reset the game in the bottom of the fifth, with
Tom Poole drawing a bases-loaded hit by pitch to tie the game.
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As the momentum seemed to stall for both squads, UTA found new life with four straight hits to score five runs in the seventh, capped off by a Ryan Black three-RBI double and a Tyson Pointer home run.
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Mann and
Grant Jay gave DBU a fighting chance in the same frame with another pair of solo homers to narrow the margin to three, 10-7.
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Alec Baker induced weak contact from the Mavs in the top of the eighth to set up a pivotal offensive inning for the Patriots.
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In a bottom of the eighth where all nine DBU hitters made a plate appearance,
Ethan Mann started a comeback with an RBI single to score
Miguel Santos.
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After a walk by Poole,
Kodie Kolden shot a ball up the middle to register a single that scored two runs, tying the game at 10.
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Grant Jay followed Kolden with a sacrifice fly on the next pitch to drive in the difference-making run represented by
Tom Poole, and
George Specht finished off the six-run frame with a two-run round-tripper for the Patriots' 13th and final tally.
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Kyle Amendt came out of the bullpen in the ninth to seal the deal for DBU and did just that, striking out all three batters he faced.
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THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU improved to 18-2 at home.
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Kyle Amendt's ninth save ties him with Brandon Koch's 2014 campaign for sixth place on the program's single-season saves list.
- Ethan 11th home run of the year ties his career high.
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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
6Â - The Patriots crushed six home runs in a game for the third time this season.
7Â - DBU has gone seven straight games without committing a fielding error.
400Â - With 14 punch-outs on Tuesday night, the DBU pitching staff eclipsed 400 strikeouts on the year, putting them on track to break the program single-season strikeouts record (600).
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HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON THE COMEBACK
"I thought the players responded really well. Being down five runs, I didn't think it fazed the guys at all. I thought they had a great mentality about it, great energy.… They love to play, and they love each other. And that's a good combination.
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UP NEXT
The Patriots ready for their second conference series against Louisiana Tech this weekend. Game one is scheduled for Friday at 6:30 pm in Dallas.
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