THE RUNDOWN
DBU picked up an 8-6 win in a back-and-forth contest against Southeast Missouri State on Saturday afternoon at Horner Ballaprk. The Patriots used a four-run 8th inning to complete the comeback.

For the second straight day, SEMO jumped out to an early lead. This time, it was via a solo home run from Michael Mugan that just carried over the right field wall to put the Redhawks up 1-0 after the first.

The Patriots wasted no time tying the game the next inning on an RBI double from Alex Pendergast to knot things at one.

SEMO's Michael Mugan blasted his second home run of the day off the right field foul pole in the third inning to give the Redhawks a 3-1 in the top of the third.

Much like Opening Day, this one was another back-and-forth contest as DBU fought back to score two in the third and tie the game at three after RBI singles from Grant Jay and Michael Dattalo.

DBU starter Jacob DeBerry had a solid afternoon, going 5.0 innings, giving up just three runs while striking out a career-high seven and walking just one. First out of the Patriots pen was Connor Benge, who struck out the first two batters he faced, before eventually surrendering the go-ahead run on a two-out RBI single from Bryce Cannon to put the Redhawks up 4-3 in the 6th.

In the next swing of this back-and-forth contest, DBU would tie the game at four in their half of the sixth inning after Grant Jay beat out a potential SEMO double play, bringing home Nathan Humphreys to even the ballgame.

The tie would be short-lived as SEMO took the lead in the seventh on a sacrifice fly off new Patriots' reliever Dillion Haines. The Redhawks would add another sacrifice fly in the inning to extend their lead to 6-4.

DBU would make another push in the bottom of the eighth, which proved to be the difference. Ethan Mann came home on a wild pitch, and in the same at-bat, Michael Dattalo tied the game on an RBI single.

With the score tied at six, Luke Heefner laid down a perfect safety-squeeze bunt to give the Patriots a 7-6 lead. Alex Pendergast added an insurance run to push the DBU lead to 8-6 after eight innings.

Needing three outs to secure the win, Conner Mackay slammed the door, helping DBU improve to 2-0 on the young season.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
· DBU earned their second comeback win of the young season and have scored eight runs in the eighth inning through their first two games.
· Grant Jay tallied three hits and two RBI in five plate appearances.
· Patriots reliever Conner Mackay picked up the win after throwing 1.2 hitless innings.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7 - DBU starter Jacob DeBerry struck out a career-high 7 batters.
.391 - The Patriots hit .391 (9-23) with runners on base.
0 - DBU defense has not committed an error through the first two games of the season and have gone six straight games without an error dating back to last season.
 
UP NEXT
DBU's season-opening series with Southeast Missouri State wraps up on Sunday with a 1:00 first pitch at Horner Ballpark.
 
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