Dallas Baptist used the long ball to pull out to a significant lead, and Seattle University could not put together enough offense to complete the comeback, as the Patriots held on for an 8-4 victory over the Redhawks Thursday night in a Western Athletic Conference baseball game at Horner Ballpark.
Dallas Baptist (19-15, 6-4 WAC) struck first in the bottom of the second inning when Duncan McAlpine and Austin Listi led off with back-to-back singles. With one out, Nash Knight hit a double just inside the right field line, scoring McAlpine and advancing Listi to third base. Seattle U starter Ted Hammond (Shoreline, Wash.) settled down, inducing consecutive groundouts to end the inning.
McAlpine and Listi started another Patriot scoring opportunity in the fourth inning, as McAlpine was hit by a pitch and Listi followed with a single up the middle. Justin Wall launched a Hammond pitch over the left field wall, and KJ Alexander did the same with a one-out pitch to increase the DBU lead to 5-0.
In the fifth inning, Michael Miller led off with an infield single, McAlpine singled to right field, and Listi walked to load the bases with one out. A line drive hit by Wall was knocked down by Redhawk second baseman Cash McGuire (Kent, Wash.), resulting in a fielder’s choice that scored Miller, and Knight followed with an infield single that drove in McAlpine to give the Patriots a 7-0 advantage.
Seattle U broke through in the top of the sixth, starting when McGuire drew a one-out walk. Landon Cray (Chimacum, Wash.) reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third base on back-to-back wild pitches thrown by Patriot starter Jake Johansen, and scored on a single by Chase Fields (Ontario, Ore.). Nate Roberts (Silverdale, Wash.) followed with a two-run home run to left field to cut the Redhawk deficit to 7-3.
Pinch hitter Nick Latta (Tacoma, Wash.) reached on an infield single, and Sean Narby (Auburn, Wash.) followed with a pop fly to shallow right field that was lost in the lights by DBU second baseman RJ Talamantes, putting runners on second and third with two outs. However, Johansen would notch a strikeout to end the inning.
The Redhawks continued to close the gap in the seventh inning, as McGuire drew a two-out walk, advanced to third on a single to right field by Cray, and scored on a single by Fields. Roberts drew a walk to load the bases, but Johansen once again pitched out of trouble, inducing a groundout to keep Dallas Baptist ahead, 7-4.
Ronnie Mitchell would lead off the bottom of the eighth inning with a solo home run to right field to bring the Patriot lead back to four. Dallas Baptist reliever Michael Smith took care of the rest, striking out four Redhawks over the final two innings to pick up the save.
Seattle U reliever Connor Moore (West Richland, Wash.) kept the Redhawks in the game, striking out five Patriot batters in two innings of work. Fields led the offense with a 3-for-5 night, scoring one run and driving in two runs.
The Patriots collected 15 hits during the game, led by Knight with a 3-for-4 performance with two RBI. Five other Dallas Baptist batters earned two hits, with McAlpine scoring three times and Wall driving in four runs.
Seattle University (11-21, 2-7 WAC) continues the three-game series against Dallas Baptist Friday, April 12, at 3 p.m. local time (1 p.m. Pacific time), with the series finale scheduled for Saturday, April 13, at 12 noon Central time. Links to live stats and live audio/video are available on the baseball schedule page of GoSeattleU.com.