Dallas Baptist University Athletics

THE RUNDOWN
On a gorgeous day for baseball, DBU (16-12, 6-3 CUSA) came back from a 5-1 deficit to top Missouri State (17-9, 6-3 CUSA) 8-5. Claiming the weekend series, the Patriots have won all three of their Conference USA series this season.
 
The Bears lit up the scoreboard first on Sunday afternoon when Max Knight plated three runs on a blast to right-center field in the top of the second, but the Patriots pushed back in the home half of the frame. Dylan Schlaegel led off with a two-strike single, and Mac Rose scored him in the next at-bat with an RBI double off the left-center field wall. But Missouri State stopped the momentum to keep it a 3-1 game at the end of two.
 
After a two-run homer by Curry Sutherland in the top of the third, the Patriots looked to close the 5-1 gap in the bottom half of the inning. Much like Schlaegel in the second, Chayton Krauss began the bottom of the third with a two-strike single. He then used a productive groundout by Ryan Martin to reach second and touched home on a two-out double by Schlaegel to narrow the margin to 5-2, but the Bears held DBU to just one tally in back-to-back frames.
 
From that point, the Patriot pitching staff took over. After giving up two home runs, Ryan Borberg settled in and held Missouri State scoreless for the rest of his 1.2 innings of work. Michael Benzor took over for Borberg with two outs in the fifth and gave his offense a chance to even the game in the fifth.
 
And that, they did. Facing a new arm out of the Bears' bullpen, Luke Pettitte homered on the second pitch he saw from Jason Schaaf to spark the Patriot bats, sending the ball 461 feet over the center field wall. Later in the inning, with two outs and the bases loaded, Dylan Cupp delivered in a crucial spot with a two-RBI single through the middle to even the score at 5-5.
 
Benzor stayed steady in the sixth, sitting down the Missouri State batters in order, and DBU's hitters came through again. In the leadoff spot for the second straight inning, Pettitte belted his second homer of the afternoon, this time to left center, to give the Patriots a 6-5 lead. Three batters later, Cooper Neville singled with two outs, and Schlaegel muscled a grounder down the left field line for his third hit of the game, scoring his teammate and adding one run to the margin.
 
Benzor put up another zero after working himself out of a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the seventh, and Dylan Cupp lasered a fly ball over the left-center fence for a leadoff solo shot, DBU's third of the game, for a three-run advantage at 8-5.
 
With six outs to go, Russ Smith and Athan Kroll faced a combined eight batters in the eighth and ninth, with Kroll punching out three batters without allowing a hit, to close the door on the Bears and snatch the series victory for the Patriots.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- With three CUSA series won this season, DBU has won nine consecutive conference series, going back to last year.
- Five Patriots had a multi-hit game, led by Dylan Schlaegel's second three-hit performance of the year and Luke Pettitte's two home runs.
- Neither DBU nor Missouri State committed an error in any game of the series.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
0 - The DBU bullpen surrendered zero runs on Sunday.
7 - The Patriots scored seven unanswered runs.
196 - With a two-hit day, Chayton Krauss now sits at 196 career hits.
 
UP NEXT
DBU wraps up a five-game homestand on Tuesday with a showdown versus Oklahoma State. First pitch between the Patriots and the Cowboys is slated for Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. at Horner Ballpark.
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