THE RUNDOWN
The No. 13 DBU Patriots (41-16) defeated the Rhode Island Rams (38-21) 6-2 in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Regionals Friday evening at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in an intense affair that lasted into the early morning hours on Saturday to advance into the winner's bracket at the Baton Rouge Regional.
The Patriots wasted no time getting on the board first. After a lead-off single from Michael Dattalo, Nathan Humphreys roped a double into the left center field gap to score Dattalo and give DBU a 1-0 lead. Chayton Krauss then stepped up to the plate and launched a two-run homer to left field for his fifteenth blast of the season to extend the lead to 3-0. Keaton Grady then crushed a solo shot of his own, his fourth of the season, to give the Patriots a 4-0 lead.
In the third, after the Rams got two runners on base with two outs, Reece Maroney singled through the left side, scoring Anthony DePino and cutting the deficit to 4-1. Grady then made a dazzling defensive play as he robbed Jack Hopko of a base hit to end the inning.
In the fifth, the Rams cut into the deficit as DePino launched a solo home run to cut the DBU lead to 4-2. Later in the inning, after the Rams got two runners in scoring position, DBU starter Ryan Borberg was able to retire Hopko to escape the jam and record five strong innings on the mound in which he struck out six batters.
In the sixth, Jerrod Jenkins came in on relief for the Patriots. He then found himself in a jam in the seventh after two runners reached base for Rhode Island. However, Jenkins was able to escape the threat after he induced a flyout from Maroney.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Luke Heefner added a huge insurance run for DBU as he blasted his fourth home run of the season over the right field wall to extend the lead to 5-2.
In the eighth, after both Hopko and Nic Notarangelo reached base, Luke Pettitte was called on in relief for DBU. Pettitte was then able to record a strikeout of Rob Butler to escape the jam.
In the bottom of the eighth, after Tom Poole and Krauss both walked, Grady singled up the middle, scoring Poole to give the Patriots a 6-2 lead. In the ninth, Pettitte retired three out of the four batters he faced, striking out Maroney to close out the victory and send DBU into the winner's bracket.
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The Patriots win their first game of a regional for the first time since 2021, when DBU won the Fort Worth Regional.
- DBU is one of just seven of the 16 two-seeds in the NCAA Tournament to win on day one of Regional action.
- Jerrod Jenkins and Luke Pettitte combined for 4.0 shutout innings out of the bullpen.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
100 - The Patriots hit their 100th home run of the 2025 season and join the 2023 team as the only two teams in program history to hit 100 home runs and steal 100 bases in a season.
9 - Ryan Borberg picked up his team leading ninth win of the season.
1 - Rhode Island had just one hit with runners in scoring position.
DBU HEAD COACH DAN HEEFNER ON THE STRONG START TO THE GAME DESPITE THE WEATHER DELAY
"We have a great group of guys. It's a veteran group and they've been in the postseason a bunch. They were fired up and couldn't wait to get on the field. There was a question on if we were able to play tonight because it depended on how fast the LSU-Little Rock game went. We were watching it on tv and every time they got an out, our guys were fired up so we knew they were ready to go. They (Rhode Island) had a very good pitcher in Trystan Levesque. He's had a great season and done a good job all year, but I thought in the first inning we put great swings on him, and we were able to get back-to-back (home runs) to give us a little bit of breathing room. Our guys chipped away at it and we were able to tack on a few insurance runs late."
UP NEXT
The Patriots will face the LSU Tigers in the winner's bracket matchup on Saturday at Alex Box Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.
