THE RUNDOWN

The No. 13 DBU Patriots (37-14, 20-6 CUSA) fell to the Liberty Flames (30-24, 10-16 CUSA) 7-6 on Friday evening at Worthington Field in Lynchburg, Virginia in a back and forth extra innings affair. 

In the top of the first inning, Nathan Humphreys got the Patriots on the board first as he launched his seventeenth home run of the season to right field to give DBU an early 1-0 lead. DBU starter James Ellwanger worked around Easton Swofford reaching base on a hit by pitch to open the bottom of the first and a single by Camden Troyer as he struck out the side to escape the jam. 

Keaton Grady singled to open the third and Grant Jay also reached base to put runners on the corners with one out before Humphreys delivered a sacrifice fly to score Grady to extend the Patriots lead to 2-0. 

In the bottom half of the third, after Tanner Marsh singled and Troyer walked, both runners advanced on an errant pickoff attempt. Jaxon Sorenson then grounded out to drive home the first run for the Flames. Landon Scilley followed with a two-run home run to the opposite field to give Liberty a 3-2 lead. 

After the first two hitters reached base for Liberty in their half of the fourth, Marsh singled to right field, but Michael Robertson was tagged out at third base trying to advance on the play. Later in the inning, with runners on the corners and two outs, Adam Berghult threw out Marsh at second base attempting to steal to escape the threat. 

In the top half of the fifth inning, after both Cody Grebeck and Grady singled, Jay singled to left field, scoring Grebeck and tying the ballgame at three apiece. Humphreys then delivered an RBI ground out for his third RBI of the game to score Grady and give the Patriots a 4-3 lead. 

Mason Swinney would come on in relief for the Patriots in the bottom of the fifth and retired each of the six batters that he faced over his first two innings of work, striking out three. 

In the seventh, after two of the first three batters for the Flames reached base, Nick Barone grounded out to shortstop to score Marsh and leveled the game at four apiece. Tyler Schott then came on in relief and struck out Sorenson to escape the jam. 

Liberty would threaten again the eighth, putting runners on the corners with two outs before Schott was able to strikeout Swofford to extinguish the threat for the Flames.

In the top of ninth, with Adam Berghult on third base and two outs for the Patriots, Grant Jay delivered a majestic opposite field two-run home run for his eighteenth home run of the season to put the Patriots ahead 6-4.
 

In the bottom of the ninth, after a one out triple from Camden Troyer, he came into score on an RBI ground out from Nick Barone. Jaxon Sorenson then tied up the game at six on an opposite field solo home run to left field to send the game to extra innings. 

Liberty would load the bases in their half of the tenth and with nobody out, Tanner Marsh hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Tucker Moore to secure the walk off victory for the Flames. 

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

- The Patriots will look to win their fourth series-clinching game this season tomorrow afternoon.  

- Grant Jay extended his streak of reaching base safely to 53 consecutive games, the second longest streak in DBU's Division 1 era.

- There were four lead changes in this evening's ballgame. 
 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
6 - Keaton Grady recorded his sixth three-hit game of the season this evening. 
10 - Nathan Humphreys recorded his tenth game this season where he drove in three or more runs. 

12 - Michael Dattalo extended his hitting streak to 12 games this evening.
 
UP NEXT
The Patriots conclude the regular season against the Liberty Flames on Saturday afternoon at Worthington Field. Mason Peters (3-1, 4.60 ERA) will make his third start of the season for DBU. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. CST.