(Photo Credit: Dallas Baptist Athletics)
By Hunt Palmer
After a year off, Alex Box Stadium will host another regional this coming weekend. LSU earned the No. 6 national seed and will play host to No. 2 seed Dallas Baptist, No. 3 seed Rhode Island and No. 4 seed Little Rock beginning on Friday afternoon.
The three visiting teams will arrive on Wednesday, and all four team have a scheduled practice at the stadium on Thursday.
In this series, we’ll break down all four squads in depth. We continue with the No. 2 seed from Dallas Baptist, a team LSU saw three months ago in the midweek.
HOW’D THEY GET HERE?
Dallas Baptist did what Dallas Baptist does. They dominated Conference USA, winning eight of nine league series and posting a 21-6 record. Then they do their annual punching up in the midweek.
They split a pair of games with both Oklahoma State and TCU. They crushed Oklahoma 9-1 in Norman. LSU came to Globe Life Field in February and won a 7-3 game.
Dan Heefner has built a tremendous program in 18 years at the helm in Dallas. The Patriots have made 11 straight NCAA fields and 13 in 14 years. Twice DBU has made the Super Regionals, but they still have not reached Omaha.
WHY THEY’LL ADVANCE
The Dallas Baptist pitching staff features some real stuff.
Former LSU hurler Micah Bucknam can be clocked at 96 mph. He’s got 78 punchouts in 59.2 innings. James Ellwanger can run it up there at 97 mph, and his breaking ball is filthy. Ellwanger relieved Bucknam last week against Jacksonville State and struck out 12 in six innings.
Earlier in the year, Ellwanger was kept on a lower pitch count. He was sticking close to 70 which is why he did not record an out in the fifth inning until May 2, his 13th appearance of the year. He’s topped 89 pitches twice in the last three weeks and has work six complete innings twice in May, so whatever limitations were in place appear to be lifted.
Bucknam was injured and missed time between April 25 and May 22. He worked three perfect innings in his return last week. It’s unlikely that he’ll be available for 115 pitches in a game, but he will be able to help the Patriots get outs.
Ryan Borberg is the other starter. He was the midweek guy early in the season when DBU played the power conference teams. He got the start against LSU. He was moved to the weekend for conference play. Against LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU, Borberg worked 17.1 innings, allowed 11 runs (5.71 ERA), all earned. He struck out 16 and walked seven.
If Dallas Baptist is going to make noise in Baton Rouge, those three will have to be a big part of it.
And the offense boasts some gaudy numbers. Grant Jay and Nathan Humphries have combined to hit 36 homers and steal 33 bases.
WHY THEY WON’T
There’s a reason DBU is one of five programs to make a regional appearance every year since 2014, yet they have only reached the Super Regional round once over that time.
DBU isn’t even losing to the hosts. It’s the three seeds giving them fits on Fridays.
The Patriots have gotten off to poor regional starts. Last year No. 3 seed West Virginia beat DBU in the Tucson Regional opener. The year prior it was No. 3 seed Washington beating the Patriots in Stillwater. In 2022, Louisiana Tech and Air Force beat the Patriots in Austin.
Armed with that experience, expect Dan Heefner to go with arm he feels gives them the best chance to beat Rhode Island on Friday night.
And even if DBU does knock off the Rams on Friday, Either Kade Anderson or Anthony Eyanson is likely to be waiting on Saturday. The Patriots won’t have seen an arm like either of those all season.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Grant Jay: .322 avg, 1.139 OPS, 19 HR, 59 RBI, 14-15 SB
Nathan Humphries: .360 avg, 1.152 OPS, 17 HR, 66 RBI, 19-23 SB
Chayton Krauss: .344 avg, 1.036 OPS, 14 HR, 19 2B
