THE RUNDOWN
Thursday night, DBU (17-13, 7-3 CUSA) defeated Kennesaw State (14-12, 5-5 CUSA) by a score of 10-5, taking the series opener in the fourth weekend of conference play. The Patriot bullpen delivered a scoreless seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, after
Dylan Schlaegel and
Ryan Martin homered earlier in the night to anchor the offense.
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Liam Watt and Kennesaw's Cooper McMullen tossed scoreless frames in the first and second innings, but the Owls would draw first blood in the bottom of the third. Three consecutive doubles to lead off the inning plated the first two runs of the ballgame.
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The score would remain 2-0 through the fourth inning as Watt rebounded from a rocky third with a one-two-three frame.
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Ryan Martin drew a lead-off walk in the top of the fifth, which was immediately followed by a
Cooper Neville double. With runners on second and third,
Dylan Schlaegel turned on the first pitch he saw and tucked it inside the foul pole to give the Patriots a 3-2 advantage.
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Later on in the inning,
Mac Rose,
Dylan Cupp, and
Ben Tryon each drew walks to load the bases with one out.
Luke Pettitte then lofted a sacrifice fly to score Rose, making the score 4-2 in favor of DBU.
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Kennesaw would respond in the bottom of the sixth, scratching three runs across after chasing Watt with two gone in the inning. After six innings of play, the Owls led 5-4.
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Keaton Grady led off the seventh with a double down the left field line, and
Dylan Cupp was plunked to put runners on first and second. With one out in the inning,
Luke Pettitte ripped a bases-clearing double to left-center, giving the lead back to DBU.
Chayton Krauss was then intentionally walked to set up a potential double play, but those plans would be spoiled as
Ryan Martin crushed a three-run homer over the left field wall, making the score 9-5.
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Michael Benzor relieved
JT Long in the bottom of the seventh and struck out two in a scoreless inning.
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The Patriots would be blanked in the top of the eighth, before Benzor and
Athan Kroll combined to toss a scoreless bottom half.
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Ryan Martin drove in
Luke Pettitte with nobody out in the top of the ninth after Pettitte led off the inning with a double, giving DBU a 10-5 lead heading to the bottom of the ninth.
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Kroll faced the minimum in the final half-inning of play, rolling a double-play to erase a lead-off walk, before striking out Jackson Chirello on three pitches to end the game.
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THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Cooper Neville extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
- DBU hitters eclipsed the ten-hit plateau for the 16th time this season.
- Patriot pitchers eclipsed the ten-strikeout plateau for the 13th time this season.
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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
3 -
Luke Pettitte posted his third career multi-XBH game with his two doubles tonight.
4 -
Ryan Martin led everyone on both sides with four runs batted in.
5 -
Michael Benzor and
Athan Kroll combined for five strikeouts across the final three innings.
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ON DECK
The Patriots continue their weekend set with the Owls tomorrow night. Saturday's first pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. CST.
