THE RUNDOWN
Friday night, No. 4 seed DBU fell to the third seed Missouri State by a score of 9-8, as the Bears completed a comeback victory after trailing by as many as five. The loss does not keep the Patriots out of CUSA title contention, as DBU will face Jacksonville State on Saturday at 10:00 AM CST in the conference semi-final round.
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Luke Pettitte, in the second at-bat of the entire game, crushed a home run to left-center after working a full-count to give DBU a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
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Missouri State would respond immediately in the bottom half, as Bryce Cermenelli and Logan Fyffe hit back-to-back homers to lead off the bottom of the first.
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Jake Bennett would lead off the top of the second with a walk before advancing to third on a
Mac Rose single. Bennett would come around to tie the game in the very next at-bat, a
Dylan Schlaegel RBI groundout.
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Patriot starter
Ryan Borberg tossed his second in a streak of five consecutive scoreless innings in the bottom of the third, allowing DBU to build up a five-run lead throughout the middle stanza of the contest.
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In the top of the fourth,
Ben Tryon led off the inning by crushing his 11th homer of the season to give DBU a 3-2 advantage. Tryon would later kickstart a monstrous sixth inning with a single, before scoring on a
Jake Bennett two-run shot.
Dylan Schlaegel would reignite the sixth-inning threat with a double, allowing
Brooks Sartain to pull another two-run homer over the right field wall. After six innings of play, the Patriots led 7-2.
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After a three-up, three-down top of the seventh, Bobby Atkinson would pinch-hit for the Bears to start the bottom half of the inning, and he hit a solo home run to right field. The Patriots would respond in the top of the eighth as
Ryan Martin laced a run-scoring double to make the score 8-3 in favor of DBU.
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The game would begin to flip on its head in the bottom of the eighth, as the Bears plated  four runs as a result of a two-run homer, a solo shot, and a run-scoring wild pitch.
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After stranding two baserunners in the top of the ninth, the Patriots would fall to the Bears in walk-off fashion, after failing to record an out in the bottom of the ninth inning.
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THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
- The Patriots have hit 118 big flies in 2026, which is one shy of tying the program single-season record (2023).
- Each run
Ryan Borberg allowed today came via a solo home run.
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Jake Bennett's home run snapped a three-game streak of zero extra-base hits (second on team with 29 XBH).
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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
4 -
Ben Tryon has crushed four home runs in his last six games.
2 -
Brooks Sartain has left the yard in consecutive games for the first time in his collegiate career.
22 - Tonight was
Ryan Borberg's longest outing of the season in terms of outs recorded (7.1 innings).
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ON DECK
DBU will continue its quest for a Conference USA Tournament crown on Saturday morning, as the Patriots take on Jacksonville State (1) in the semi-final round of bracket play. First pitch is scheduled for 10:00 AM CST.
