THE RUNDOWN
The bats came alive for No. 12 DBU (37-12, 20-4) on Sunday afternoon, as they took the series from Middle Tennessee (23-23, 12-12) in a 15-6 affair. The Patriots improve to 20-4 in Conference USA and have won all eight of their series in league play thus far.
 
DBU gave up a run to MTSU to begin the game but quickly rebounded as the first four Patriot hitters reached base, including Ethan Mann, whose two-RBI single gave his squad a 2-1 lead.
 
Three batters later, Tom Poole drove a pitch to center field for a single and DBU's third run of the first.
 
A sacrifice fly in the third put the Blue Raiders within one of the Patriots, but Nathan Humphreys matched the tally with a leadoff solo home run in the home half of the frame.
 
With two outs in the bottom of the third, Grant Jay hit a solo shot of his own, and following an MTSU pitching change, Tom Poole went back-to-back with Jay, making the score 6-2 in favor of DBU.
 
The Patriot defense recorded two quick outs in the fourth, but the Blue Raiders managed to tie the game on a double by JT Mabry and a single by Brett Coker.
 
Small ball by DBU pushed across the go-ahead run for DBU in the bottom of the fourth when George Specht, who walked to start the inning, crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by Humphreys.
 
The Patriots took over in the fifth. They batted around and scored on three consecutive plays—an Alex Pendergast fielder's choice, a George Specht double, and a Jace Grady double—before Humphreys closed the five-run inning with an RBI single for a 12-6 DBU advantage.
 
The relief arms of Zane Russell, Brady Rose, and Kyle Amendt quieted the MTSU lineup from the fifth inning on, not allowing a run and retiring eight batters over the last five innings.
 
DBU tacked on an extra three tallies in the eighth courtesy of the bats of Poole, Pendergast, and Specht en route to a dominant win in the rubber match on Sunday.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Jace Grady earned the first five-hit game of his career. He went five-for-five with a double, a walk, a run, and two RBI.
- Tom Poole had his first four-hit day, going four-for-four with a home run, a hit-by-pitch, two runs, and three RBI.
- Zane Russell tied his career high for strikeouts in a game with five in 2.1 innings of work.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
13 - The Patriots hits a total of 13 home runs in the series against the Blue Raiders.
94 - DBU and Middle Tennessee combined for 66 runs on 94 hits in the series.
510 - Patriot pitching has reached 510 strikeouts this season. The staff currently holds fifth place on the program's single-season strikeouts list.
 
HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON SUNDAY'S BOUNCE-BACK WIN
"I was really happy with the way we responded. Obviously, we didn't play [really] well yesterday, but it was good for us to be in this situation, of a series tied, 1-1, and needing to come out and play well and bounce back after that game. So, really proud of how [the Patriots] responded. I thought they showed up and… went about their business like it was just another game, another day, and were ready to play."
 
UP NEXT
DBU finishes a five-game home stand on Tuesday afternoon against Central Arkansas. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 pm at Horner Ballpark. Read Full Article