THE RUNDOWN

The No. 13 DBU Patriots (41-18) fell to the Little Rock Trojans (26-33) 8-6 in the Baton Rouge Regional semifinals on Sunday afternoon at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to conclude their 2025 season. 

In the bottom of the first, the Trojans got on the board first after Ty Rhoades launched a three run home run to right field to give Little Rock an early 3-0 lead.

The Patriots were then able to respond in the top of the second. After loading the bases with one out in the inning, Luke Heefner lined a double down the right field line to score both Ben Tryon and Keaton Grady and cut the deficit to 3-2.

In the top half of fourth, after the Patriots put runners on the corners with two outs, an RBI single by Michael Dattalo scored Grady to tie the game at three apiece. Landon Underhill then came home on a wild pitch to give DBU their first lead of the day at 4-3. 

In the bottom of the fourth, a two run home run from Angel Cano and solo home run from Reed Willbanks gave the Trojans a 6-4 lead. In the fifth, a solo home run from Zach Henry extended the Little Rock lead out to 7-4. Mason Peters then came on in relief for the Patriots and retired to next three hitters to escape the jam.

In the sixth, Little Rock added another run to extend their lead to 8-4. 

After loading the bases with two outs in the top half of the eighth, the Patriots were able to cut into to the deficit as Nathan Humphreys roped an RBI double into the right center field gap to score Grady and Underhill and trim the Trojans lead to 8-6. 

In the bottom half of the eighth, after Little Rock put runners on the corners with two outs, Peters was able to induce a ground out from Alex Seguine to escape the threat. 

In the ninth, after Tom Poole reached base for the Patriots, Blake Van Cleave came on in relief and retired the next two hitters that he faced to seal the victory for Little Rock and pick up the save. 

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Nathan Humphreys, Luke Heefner, Tyler Schott, Cody Grebeck, and Rian Schwede played in their final games as Patriots this afternoon.

- Luke Heefner hit safely during all 12 regional games during his storied career. 

- Mason Peters allowed one unearned run in 4.0 innings of relief. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7 - Keaton Grady led the Patriots with seven hits during the Baton Rouge Regional. 
226 – Nathan Humphreys finishes his DBU career with 226 hits, which ranks as tenth most in program history.
196 – Luke Heefner started his 196th career game to pass Jason Krizan for the eighth most starts in program history. 

DBU POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE