The Dallas Baptist Patriots are one of the surprise teams appearing in the NCAA Baseball Super Regionals, as they won the Fort Worth Regional, defeating Oral Roberts in their final game to advance to the Super Regionals against the California Golden Bears. The best-of-three Super Regional between the Patriots and the Golden Bears gets underway on Saturday night.
Not much is known about the Dallas Baptist Patriots - other than the fact that they weren't supposed to make it out of the regionals. Regardless, they're only two wins away from headed to Omaha for a trip to the College World Series.
The folks over at Baseball America preview this series - and offer some insight into the Dallas Baptist team.
I think it's going to be a little different on the road. I was extremely impressed with the way they won in Fort Worth. They're just going to grind. It's not like you have one guy in the order you have to really watch out for, because 1-9 they're solid. Not like one guy on the mound you really have to beat. The one thing you want to have on the mound is some diversity: go right, go left, show them some different looks, because they have some balance in their order. Anybody they play, I would see games being tight and close. If they were at home, they'd be the favorites because of the style of play. On the road, I don't know, but they'll be in every game, and they'll grind.
We'll see how the Patriots respond to being in California. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT, 5 p.m. PDT. Coverage can be found on ESPNU.