THE RUNDOWN
The No. 13 DBU Patriots (37-13, 20-5 CUSA) defeated the Liberty Flames (29-24, 9-16 CUSA) 6-4 on Thursday evening at Worthington Field in Lynchburg, Virginia behind a timely offensive attack and a strong pitching performance from Ryan Borberg to clinch the Conference USA regular season title.
The game began with both teams throwing a scoreless inning in the first as Liberty starter Caleb Lingenfelter worked around a two out walk to throw a scoreless top half of the frame and Patriot starter Ryan Borberg struck out two and retired the side in the bottom half of the frame.
In the top of the second, Ben Tryon led off the inning by hitting his first home run of the season to right field to give the Patriots an early 1-0 lead. After Michael Dattalo singled and Joey Nerat drew a walk, Cody Grebeck delivered a sacrifice bunt to score Dattalo and extend the Patriot lead to 2-0.
In the bottom half of the second, the Flames attempted to put a rally together after Nick Barone singled and Anderson Fulk doubled down the right field line to put two runners in scoring position. However, Borberg was able to strike out Tucker Moore to escape the jam.
In the third, the Flames got on the board as a sacrifice fly from Tanner Marsh scored Michael Robertson to cut the deficit to 2-1. An RBI ground out from Camden Troyer then scored Easton Swofford to tie the game at two apiece.
The Patriots responded in the fourth as Dattalo delivered his second base hit of the game and Nerat beat out a groundball to the left side. Landon Underhill then stepped up to the plate and roped a double into the left center field gap to score both runners and give DBU a 4-2 lead.
In the fifth, the Patriots were able to extend their lead as Grant Jay singled and Nathan Humphreys launched his sixteenth home run of the season to right field to increase the lead to 6-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, Joey Nerat made a fantastic leaping catch against the right field wall to rob Barone of an extra base hit and secure the third quality start of the season for Borberg.
In the bottom of the eighth, DBU reliever Liam Watt found himself in a jam after the bases were loaded for the Flames with just one out in the inning. Pinch hitter Michael Gibson then lined a ball to first base where it was snagged by Chayton Krauss who tagged out Landon Scilley for a huge double play to escape the threat.
In the ninth, the Flames cut into the deficit after Swofford hit a two-run home run to left field to cut the lead to 6-4. However, Jerrod Jenkins was able to induce a double play off the bat of Troyer to close out the 20th Conference USA victory for the Patriots this season.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The Patriots clinched the regular season conference championship in Conference USA and have won two regular season titles (2023 & 2025) since joining the league in 2023.
- Grant Jay extended his streak of reaching base safely to 52 consecutive games, tying Jimmy Glowenke (April 20, 2018- March 26, 2019) for the second longest on base streak in the Patriots Division 1 era.
- Nathan Humphreys recorded his seventeenth game this season with two RBI or more.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
8 - Ryan Borberg set a new career-high with eight strikeouts this evening.
20 - Michael Dattalo delivered his twentieth multi hit game of the season.
5 - The Patriots' bullpen has allowed only five earned runs in their last 20 innings pitched.
UP NEXT
The Patriots look to win their series against the Liberty Flames on Friday afternoon at Worthington Field. James Ellwanger (3-2, 3.86 ERA) will take the mound for DBU. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m CST.
