UD finishes sweep of DCC

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The University of Dallas baseball team completed their sweep of Dallas Christian College in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 14.

UD’s offense broke out in the series for 37 runs a week after scoring just 6 at Texas Lutheran. For the series, Dallas went 45-99 with 12 doubles and a mere 12 strikeouts.

“It was big getting some wins heading into conference [play] again,” said sophomore Nick Hovde. “Especially [getting] a sweep. It was nice to see our bats bounce back an shows how good we are at the dish.”

Sophomore third baseman Nathan Patton led the way for UD going 9-12 with 6 runs scored, 2 doubles and 7 runs batted in. The two time d3baseball.com Team of the Week awardee currently leads the SCAC in batting average and is in the top five in hits, runs, doubles, on-base percentage and RBIs.

“Patton is a guy with a high IQ of the game and a competitor who finds a way to play his best baseball week in and week out,” said Hovde. “Patton loves the game and works extremely hard to be the best player he can be. Having said that, it’s incredible to see his hard work paying off.”

In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Patton broke a 3-3 tie in the second inning with an RBI double to center, scoring junior shortstop Josh Abalos. Patton knocked in Abalos again in the third inning, this time with a single through the left side of the infield in extend UD’s lead to 9-4. Patton went 4-5 for the game.

Five different Crusaders, including Abalos and Patton, had multi-hit games, Abalos with three and Patton with four. The other Crusaders, each with two hits apiece, were juniors Mark Peterson and Luke Boylson, along with senior Mike Ilardi.

The Crusaders garnered 16 total hits in game two of the series, and won 11-7.

The Dallas offense was slower to start in the final game, as Dallas Christian jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 3 innings. However, UD’s offense scored two in the fourth inning, two in the fifth and four in the sixth. The offense was jump started in the fourth by Patton, who hit a double to right center field, scoring junior center fielder Jordan Stickler. Patton then scored on a single by Boylson.

Patton would get another RBI in the fifth, tying the game on a base hit that scored freshman right fielder Max Costello. Patton later broke the tie, scoring on an error by Dallas Christian center fielder Cameron Henderson.

“We knew we had a chance to come back [in game 3],” said Hovde.  “[Especially] with the way our offense has been for the majority of the season.”

UD put the finishing touches on the game in the sixth, as Stickler singled in a run, Patton singled in another run and Peterson doubled both of them in for the final runs of the game.

Dallas won the final game 8-3.

UD’s sweep improves their record to 12-20 in the season. The Crusaders will travel to San Antonio this weekend to face the #1 ranked team in the country, Trinity University, on Saturday, April 21, and Sunday, April 22. Game times will be at 1 and 4 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

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