THE RUNDOWN
A ninth-inning lightning delay nearly prevented the game from finishing, but No. 15 DBU (39-12, 22-4) knocked off No. 22 UTSA (36-14, 19-6) 11-9- in the second game of a doubleheader on Frida. Freshman Grant Jay's second long shot of the day broke a 9-9 tie in the ninth.
 
UTSA's Leyton Barry started the bottom of the first with a leadoff homer for a quick, 1-0 Roadrunner lead.
 
That lead would stand for only an inning, however, as five consecutive Patriots reached base in the third for five runs, highlighted by a Grant Jay three-run shot that made the score 5-1.
 
UTSA responded quickly with two runs in the bottom of the third.
 
Both offenses failed to push a run across in innings four and five, but George Specht and Luke Heefner scored from second and third on a Miguel Santos single in the sixth.
 
Ethan Mann looked to keep the output going in the seventh with a leadoff home run, but his efforts were matched only by two tallies by the Roadrunners in the home half of the inning.
 
Specht and Heefner used back-to-back hits in the eighth to stretch the score to 9-5.
 
The Roadrunners reset the game in the bottom of the eighth with a grand slam by Josh Killeen to set the stage for a dramatic finish.
 
With the two teams knotted at nine runs apiece, Grant Jay faced the nation's leader in ERA, Simon Miller, with one out in the ninth. On the first pitch of the at-bat, Jay turned on a pitch and took it over the left field fence for a go-ahead solo homer. Specht added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly to drive in Kodie Kolden from third, and DBU entered the last half-inning up, 11-9.
 
After coming into the game in the eighth, Kyle Amendt stepped on the mound in the bottom of the last inning in search of his first career win. 
 
The redshirt junior induced a fly out from the first batter he faced and worked a 1-2 count on the second hitter when the game was put into a lightning delay.
 
Roughly 50 minutes later, Amendt forced a groundout and subsequently struck out the third batter of the frame to complete a series win for the Patriots. 
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU improves to 4-0 in doubleheader games this season.
- All nine Patriots in the lineup reached base, and eight of the nine scored a run.
- DBU can clinch the Conference USA regular season title with a win in the series finale. 
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
11 - The Patriot offense has registered at least 11 hits in six straight games.
18 - Grant Jay's 18 home runs on the year tie him for sixth place for the program's Division I record for home runs in a season.
599 - Friday's second victory gives Head Coach Dan Heefner 599 career wins. A win in the series finale would give him 600 career wins and hand the Patriots their 40th win of the season.
 
UP NEXT
Game time for the series finale between DBU and UTSA is to be determined. Follow @DBU_Baseball on Twitter for updates. Read Full Article