THE RUNDOWN
Sunday afternoon, DBU (9-7) steamrolled Louisiana (12-4) in the series finale by a score of 12-1. The Patriots avoided being swept at home and launched four home runs in the winning effort. Patriot starter
Ryan Borberg and
Liam Watt combined to go all seven innings, allowing just the one run.
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Louisiana jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, as Donovan LaSalle led off the game with a double and later came in to score on a sacrifice fly.
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In the bottom of the first,
Cooper Neville flew out to center to lead off the inning before
Jake Bennett tied the game with his seventh home run of the season. Later on, with two outs,
Ben Tryon ripped a double down the right field line, setting the table for a 106.8 mph RBI single to left off the bat of
Ryan Martin. The Patriots led 2-1 after the first inning.
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Borberg tossed a scoreless top of the second, leading to
Urim Ibrahimi launching a home run in his second at-bat as a Patriot to make the score 3-1.
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Working with a two-run lead, Borberg tossed another clean frame in the third after allowing the first two hitters to reach base.
Adam Berghult helped his battery mate by throwing out Lee Amedee trying to steal second base in a first-and-third situation.
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The Patriots would go down one-two-three in the third, and
Liam Watt would come in to finish off a scoreless top of the fourth. Borberg's day ended after 3.2 innings, allowing one run and striking out three.
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Martin led off the bottom of the fourth with a single up the middle, before Ibrahimi drove in his second RBI on his second extra-base hit of the game; this time a double to center field. The Patriots led 4-1 after four innings of play.
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Watt trotted out to the mound for the fifth and delivered a one-two-three inning on just ten pitches.
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In the bottom half of the fifth,
Cooper Neville reached base on an error to lead off the inning, before
Ben Tryon later ripped a two-out, two-RBI homer to right-center. Tryon's fourth big fly of the season pushed DBU's lead to 6-1.
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Louisiana's Colt Brown and Trip Dobson led off the sixth with back-to-back singles, but with some assistance from the rare 5-4 double play,
Liam Watt escaped the inning unscathed.
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The floodgates opened in the bottom of the sixth, as the Patriots added on a whopping six runs.
Dylan Schlaegel,
Cooper Neville, and
Jake Bennett each drew one-out walks, loading the bases for
Chayton Krauss. Krauss flew out to the warning track, bringing in Schlaegel with a sac fly.
Ben Tryon then walked before
Ryan Martin singled home Neville, keeping the bases loaded for
Dylan Cupp. On the third pitch he saw, Cupp drilled a 1-1 fastball over the left-field wall for a grand slam. Cupp's first homer as a Patriot traveled 385 feet and gave DBU a 12-1 lead.
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Liam Watt took the mound for the seventh inning and slammed the door with a one-two-three frame, striking out Owen Galt to seal the run-rule victory.4rto
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THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- DBU avoided being swept at home for the first time since the opening weekend of 2013, at the hands of the Creighton Bluejays.
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Ben Tryon increased his hitting streak to 13 games with his first-inning double.
- The Patriots now own three run-rule victories this season.
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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
7 -
Adam Berghult has gunned down 7/21 attempted base stealers this season.
1,599 - The Patriots swatted 1,599 feet worth of home runs this afternoon.
4 -
Ryan Martin reached base in each of his four plate appearances.
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ON DECK
The Patriots conclude their weekend set against Louisiana tomorrow afternoon.
Ryan Borberg is scheduled to take the hill at 1:05 pm.
