THE RUNDOWN
No. 7 DBU won a back-and-forth contest against the Tarleton Texans by a score of 8-7 in 10 innings on Tuesday night at Horner Ballpark. The Patriots used a walk-off home run from
Luke Heefner to secure their 24th win of the season.
DBU struck early in the second inning when a hit by pitch, single, and a walk loaded the bases. A
Michael Dattalo groundout plated
Grant Jay to put the Patriots up 1-0.
Tarleton State would respond immediately in the top of the third, taking advantage of some Patriot miscues in the field. Three hit batters, a passed ball, a throwing error, and an RBI groundout helped the Texans jump out to a 3-1 lead. The Texans tacked on another run in the sixth on an RBI single from Jordan Andrade to make it 4-1.
The Texans added another when Tyson Drake led off the seventh with a home run for Tarleton's fifth run of the night.
Nick Wilson came on in relief and got out DBU out of the inning. The Patriots' senior righty would end up working 3.2 innings in stellar relief.
In the bottom half of the seventh, DBU would get the run back as
Grant Jay drove his 13th home run of the season over the left field wall to make it 5-2.
With the Patriots down by three in the bottom of the eighth,
Nathan Humphreys drew a leadoff walk followed by a
Miguel Santos single.
Ethan Mann came up as the tying run and hit a game-tying three-run homer to center field.
Tied at five in the bottom of the 10th, Ike Shirey delivered a two-run single over a drawn-in infield that snuck into right field to put Tarleton back on top, 7-5.
In the bottom of the 10th, a leadoff walk by Santos and a single by Mann set the stage for
Luke Heefner. Up in the count 1-0, Heefner smashed a heroic three-run walk-off home run over the fence in right to win the game.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU's 24-4 record is the team's best record through 28 games in program history.
- Tonight's win marks the third time this year in which the Patriots have rallied to victory when trailing in the seventh inning or later.
INSIDE THE NUMBERSÂ
3 - DBU now has three walk-off wins on the season.
17 - The Patriots are 17-2 at Horner Ballpark this year.
DBU HEAD COACH DAN HEENFER, NICK WILSON, & LUKE HEEFNER'S POSTGAME COMMENTS
UP NEXT
DBU travels to Bowling Green to face Western Kentucky for the Patriots' second CUSA road series this season. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Friday at Nick Denes Field.
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