THE RUNDOWN
DBU (22-9, 8-3) snuck away with a 3-2 win over UAB (10-20, 3-8) on a walk-off sacrifice bunt play on Friday night at Horner Ballpark. In back-to-back games, Miguel Santos has been the man at the plate when the winning run scored. With the one-run victory, the Patriots have claimed their fourth consecutive conference series win.
 
With no runs on the board in the bottom of the second, Ethan Mann and Kodie Kolden hit singles and advanced to second and third on a groundout by Grant Jay. This set up Luke Heefner for a sacrifice fly to deep center field scoring Mann, the game's first run.
 
Braxton Bragg worked 3.2 innings without allowing a run before walking UAB's Brayton Brown, who crossed home plate on an RBI triple by Logan Braunschweig to even the run total.
 
In the fifth, George Specht lifted a ball that ricocheted off the right field wall for a double. A Jace Grady ground out advanced Specht to third, and Santos earned his third RBI of the series on a single to give the lead back to the Patriots, 2-1.
 
Bragg was staunch on the mound. In 6.1 innings on the mound, he conceded only four hits while fanning four Blazers. He was credited with only two runs on Friday, the second of which came on an RBI bunt single with runners on the corners and Alec Baker on the mound in the seventh.
 
Neither squad scored in the eighth, and Baker induced a ground out with a runner on third in the top of the ninth to keep the tallies knotted at two apiece.
 
In the bottom of the ninth, George Specht was hit by a pitch, and Grady singled to put runners on first and second. On the first pitch of his plate appearance, Santos laid down a bunt fielded by catcher Henry Hunter. Hunter's throw sailed past first base, permitting not only Santos to reach safely but also Specht to become the winning run.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU improves to an impressive 15-2 at home this season.
- The Patriots have won all four of the conference series thus far.
- Braxton Bragg's 6.1 innings pitched is a career-high.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4.2 - The DBU bullpen has thrown 4.2 innings of scoreless relief over the last two games.
12.2 - Patriot pitching went 12.2 innings before giving up their first walk of the series.
21 - Friday night was the 21st walk-off win in the history of Horner Ballpark.
 
UP NEXT
DBU looks to sweep UAB tomorrow afternoon. Game time is scheduled for 2:00 pm at Horner Ballpark.
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