Dallas Baptist University Athletics

THE RUNDOWN
DBU (31-23, 19-10 CUSA) downed Jacksonville State (41-13, 22-7 CUSA) to take the series from the Gamecocks on Friday night at Horner Ballpark. Russ Smith was dominant out of the bullpen, tossing 5.0 shutout innings.
 
A back-and-forth battle marked the opening stages of Friday night. Jax State's Jaxon Pate homered on the first pitch of the game, but Ryan Borberg rebounded with a pair of strikeouts and a fly out to close the top of the first.
 
Borberg's bats answered back with a pair of runs in their first time at bat. Dylan Cupp led off the bottom of the first with a single and advanced to third moments later on an errant pickoff attempt by the Gamecocks' starting arm, Beau Bryans. Down 1-2 in the count, Chayton Krauss drove a fly ball into deep right field for a sacrifice fly to score Cupp and drive in the 200th RBI of his career. The next man up, Luke Pettitte, took a first-pitch ball and promptly lasered the next offering, sending it 493 feet over the left field wall for a solo shot to tie the game at 2-2.
 
Jax State responded in the second via a Trey Majette sac fly to take the lead back, and the Gamecocks tacked on three more in the third on four hits to move back in front 5-2.
 
But the Patriot offense charged again in the home half of the third inning. Krauss commenced the frame with a single on the first pitch, and Pettitte followed with a single up the middle to push the DBU first baseman to second base. Ben Tryon loaded the bases on a walk, and the three runners took an extra base on a wild pitch for the Patriots' third run of the night. On the next delivery, Jake Bennett sent a liner to center field, plating both Pettitte and Tryon to knot the game at five runs apiece.
 
The Patriots were not yet finished with the third. Bennett took second on a passed ball and became the go-ahead run on a double down the right field line courtesy of Keaton Grady. After a Cooper Neville hit-by-pitch placed Grady on second, Mac Rose entered the game as a pinch hitter and moved the two runners 180 feet to complete a five-run frame for DBU.
 
Russ Smith kept the game at 7-5 entering the bottom of the fourth, and the Patriot bats added a pair. Tryon drew a full-count walk to start the offense, and Dylan Schlaegel came to the dish with one out. With an aggressive approach, Schlaegel belted his 12th homer of the season, a two-run shot to stretch the margin to 9-5.
 
In the sixth, Jake Bennett came up on both sides of the field for DBU. With Grayson Ashe initiating the offense for the Gamecocks, he drove a ball to the left field wall. As he rounded first, Bennett picked up the ball in front of the warning track and gunned a ball to Grady covering second to cut down Ashe at the bag. Later, with Pettitte on third after his first career triple, Bennett scored the designated hitter on the Patriots' second sacrifice fly of the game for a 10-6 lead.
 
Going 5.0 shutout innings, Smith handed off the ball to Max Luzarraga. The freshman continued a string of strong relief outings, allowing only one run over the final two innings to seal the 10-6 win and series victory for DBU.
 
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- With Friday's win, the Patriots have won eight of their 10 Conference USA series.
- With his first-inning sacrifice fly, Chayton Krauss joined Jason Krizan as the only Patriots in program history with 200 hits, 200 RBI, and 40 home runs in a career.
- Russ Smith threw arguably the best outing of his season, going 5.0 innings without allowing a run while striking out four batters and surrendering only one hit and one walk.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
1 - In their seven innings of relief, the bullpen duo of Russ Smith and Max Luzarraga allowed only one run.
3 - Luke Pettitte registered his fourth game with at least three hits, including his first career triple.
493 - Pettitte's first-inning long ball flew an estimated 493 feet.
 
UP NEXT
DBU looks for a series sweep in the regular season finale on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. at Horner Ballpark.
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