SPRING 2023 21 THREE PATRIOTS MAKE OPENING DAY When the Major League Baseball season opened on Thursday, March 30, three Patriots were featured on Opening Day rosters—Darick Hall, Colin Poche, and Drew Smith. Hall, who starred at DBU in 2016, is expected to be at first base for the defending National League champions Philadelphia Phillies. Hall’s teammate in 2016, Colin Poche, will be a part of the Tampa Bay Rays bullpen while Smith returns for his fifth season with the New York Mets and will be a candidate for the team’s closer role. The trio of Hall, Poche, and Smith are three of the all-time greats in the rich history of DBU Baseball. Smith was part of a team that hosted the 2015 Dallas Regional while Hall and Poche led the Patriots to regular season and tournament titles in the Missouri Valley Conference in 2016. Darick Hall, a product of Hereford, Arizona, spent time last year with the Phillies, making his MLB debut on June 29. In 41 games, the 6-foot-4, 232-pound left-handed slugger, hit .250 with nine home runs and 16 RBI. Poche made his MLB debut on June 8, 2019, and since then has made 116 relief appearances. In 2022, the southpaw was second on the Rays in saves with seven and totaled 64 strikeouts in 58.2 innings out of the pen. Smith was a third round selection of the Detroit Tigers in 2015. The right-handed flamethrower was eventually traded to the New York Mets and broke into the big leagues in 2018. In four seasons at the major league level, Smith has made 110 appearances. Last year, he recorded 53 strikeouts in 46.0 innings.
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