THE RUNDOWN
For the second day in a row, Grant Jay played hero with a late home run to propel No. 17 DBU (34-10, 18-3) to a victory over Rice (17-26, 7-14). The freshman capped off a three-run ninth inning for the Patriots to complete the sweep of the Owls.
 
Ethan Mann started his day with a solo shot on the first pitch he saw for a quick 1-0 lead for DBU.
 
The first two batters for Rice both batted balls that found the glove of right fielder Jace Grady, but Aaron Smigelski, Jack Riedel, and Manny Garza strung together three hits for a pair of runs.
 
In the third, Guy Garibay led off the inning for the Owls and came around to score on a sacrifice fly that made the score 3-1 in favor of his squad.
 
Five innings of scoreless baseball followed. After giving up three runs through three innings, DBU's Zach Heaton allowed only one hit in the second half of his 6.0-inning outing while Rice's trio of Cristian Cienfuegos, Ryland Urbanczyk, and Justin Long prevented DBU from shoving a run across in innings two through eight.
 
Down by two in the ninth, Miguel Santos worked a 2-2 count before slamming a leadoff solo shot to left field. Jack Ben-Shoshan then took the ball for the Owls. Kodie Kolden was the first Patriot to face Ben-Shoshan, and he drew a full-count walk. With Kolden representing the tying run, Grant Jay stepped to the plate and drove the first pitch he saw over the left field wall for the go-ahead two-run shot.
 
Head Coach Dan Heefner charged Kyle Amendt with the task of preserving the 4-3 advantage in the bottom of the ninth. Rice advanced runners to first and second with two outs, but Amendt worked out of the jam, picking off a runner for his 11th save of the year.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The Patriots improve to 5-6 in games where they trail entering the eighth inning.
- Throughout the weekend, DBU outscored Rice in the eighth inning or later, 17-3.
- Both of Grant Jay's home runs in the series came in the ninth inning of their respective games.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4 - DBU has swept four conference series in succession for the first time in program history.
11 - Kyle Amendt ties Tyson Bagley (2008) for the fifth-most saves in a singe-season in the program's Division I era.
8 - The Patriots have won eight consecutive series for the first time since taking 10 straight in 2018.
 
HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON THE TEAM'S BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM THE WEEKEND
"I think it's the confidence that we can come back. Our strength is the end of the game.… We know our bullpen is really good and we can shut the opponent down. We've just got to keep having quality at-bats. The runs count just the same at the end of the game as they do in the beginning. Would like to score a few more early so we don't have to [always come back], but going into the postseason, this is a big thing—to have confidence late in the game, that you can come back, and you've done it before."

 
UP NEXT
DBU comes back to Dallas for a five-game home stand beginning with a Tuesday-night affair against Oklahoma. That game is slated for a 6:30 pm start time at Horner Ballpark.
  Read Full Article