THE RUNDOWN
DBU (22-11, 6-4 CUSA) cruised to an 8-1 win against Jacksonville State (21-13, 5-5 CUSA) on Friday night to open the weekend series at Rudy Abbott Field. With a consistent offensive attack behind him, Micah Bucknam shined on the mound, throwing 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball and striking out nine Gamecocks.
 
After Micah Bucknam navigated around a Jax State threat in the bottom of the first, Nathan Humphreys led off the top of the second with a single to the left side of the infield. Moments later, with one out and Michael Dattalo at the plate, Humphreys swiped second and alertly took third when catcher Grayson Ashe's throw veered into right-center field. On the next pitch, rolled a grounder to third baseman Matthew Cash, who fired home, but Humphreys slid underneath Ashe's glove, beating the tag for the game's first tally.
 
In the third, the Patriots used a combination of patience and hustle to tack on three more. Grant Jay coaxed a full-count walk to start the frame, and Mason Swinney followed suit, putting two aboard with nobody out. Karuss then wasted no time, lacing the first pitch he saw down the right field line for a hustle double that scored Jay and moved Swinney to third. Sacrifice flies from Humphreys and Jake Bennett brought both runners home, stretching the DBU advantage to 4-0.
 
Bucknam controlled the game on the mound, retiring his sixth consecutive batter to open the home half of the third and bouncing back with two more strikeouts after giving up a single to Caleb Johnson. His teammates kept the momentum rolling in the fourth, as Keaton Grady led off with a deep fly ball to right-center that eluded the diving right fielder, Colton Hegwood, for his second triple of the season. Dylan Schlaegel capitalized with an RBI ground out to third, and Luke Heefner followed with a walk and a steal of second on the first pitch to Grant Jay. On Jackson Phipps' next offering, Jay smoked a liner to the left-center field wall on a hop for an RBI double, extending the Patriots' cushion to six runs.
 
Bucknam was electric in the fourth, flirting with perfection in a near-immaculate inning. He fanned the first two batters on just six pitches and worked ahead 0-2 on the third, delivering his ninth strike, a breaking ball that induced a routine grounder to the second baseman Swinney to cap another dominant frame.
 
DBU continued to apply pressure in the fifth, once again manufacturing offense with timely contact. Humphreys singled to begin the inning and later crossed the plate on Keaton Grady's RBI fielder's choice. Jay pinned another run to the scoreboard in the sixth, launching a solo home run over the right-center fence for the Patriots' eighth unanswered run.
 
After racking up nine strikeouts, Bucknam exited in the sixth with the bases loaded and two outs, his day on the mound complete. Avery Duncan stepped in and left all three runners stranded, engendering a fly ball to right field off the bat of Ashe to keep Jax State scoreless.
 
The Gamecocks finally broke through in the seventh, plating their first run when Matthew Cash scored from second on a double-steal attempt. As Colton Hegwood took off for second, the throw down escaped into center field, allowing Cash to touch home after advancing to third.
 
Jax State threatened in the eighth, but with runners on first and second and one out, Ashton Branson sat down the next two hitters before handing the ball off to Athan Kroll in the ninth, who worked a three-up-three-down inning to complete a dominant 8-1 victory for the Patriots.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- In his 5.2 innings of work, Micah Bucknam registered nine strikeouts, opposite only three walks and three hits. All nine punch outs came on swinging third strikes.
- Seven of the nine spots in the DBU lineup recorded an RBI.
- Grant Jay and Nathan Humphreys both had two-hit performances. Jay finished with a double, a home run, two RBI, and a walk, while Humphreys had two singles and an RBI.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
5 - The Patriots scored in five straight innings.
10 - With 12 strikeouts, the DBU pitching staff has punched out at least 10 batters in seven of the last nine games.
45 - Nathan Humphreys' stolen base in the second inning gives him 45 career stolen bags, tied for the second most in a Patriot career.
 
UP NEXT
DBU and Jacksonville State face off on Saturday for game two of their series. First pitch is slated for 6:00 p.m. at Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium. Read Full Article