#2 Dallas Baptist Patriots
Head Coach: Dan Heefner (18th season) He’s led the Patriots to the NCAA postseason 13 times, including 12 of the last 13 years.
Dallas Baptist won the Conference USA Regular Season title, and they are 40-16. According to warrennolan.com they played the 15th toughest nonconference schedule. DBU beat Oklahoma twice, and defeated Oklahoma State and TCU in extra innings. Lost to LSU 7-3 on February 26th.
Dallas Baptist has veteran hitters led by Grant Jay who has 19 home runs. Senior center fielder Nathan Humphreys is hitting .360 with 17 home runs and 66 RBIs.
As a team DBU, has 97 home runs and 104 stolen bases, which is very impressive.
Starting pitching has really developed for the Patriots during the season. Junior right-hander Ryan Borberg leads the staff, 8-4 with a 3.36 ERA. James Ellwanger is 4-2 with a 3.81 ERA and has 90 strikeouts in 59 innings.
And remember Micah Bucknam. The former LSU pitcher was DBU’s Friday night starter, until he got hurt late in the season, but he’s back, and he’s 6-1 with a 4.37 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 59.2 innings
# 3 Rhode Island Rams
Head Coach: Raphael Cerrato (11th season)
Rhode Island won both the Atlantic 10 regular season and conference tournament to earn an automatic bid. They are the only team from the A-10 to make the NCAA Tournament.
It’s Rhode Island’s third appearance in an NCAA Regional and first since 2016. This is the first time they are a three-seed.
Rhode Island’s strength is its offense. They are sixth in the country in runs scored with 527. The key to their success is that they get on base. Rhode Island’s on-base percentage is seventh best in the country at .430.
The Rams number nine hitter, Brody McKenzie, has an on-base percentage of .509. He sets it up for Rhode Island’s lead-off hitter, Anthony DePino. The senior third-baseman will be drafted next month and he’s hitting .359 with 19 home runs and 60 RBIs.
Rhode Island has hit 85 home runs which is high for them, and they’ve stolen 125 bases, and they have 38 sacrifice bunts.
Rhode Island’s team ERA is 6.20 which is not good. But in the Atlantic 10 tournament they were excellent on the mound, allowing six runs in three games.
Trystan Levesque has been their top starter. The graduate transfer left-hander is 8-1 with a 3.25 ERA.
Jeremy Urena is their number two starter. The junior right-hander is 6-1 with a 5.10 ERA, but just 47 strikeouts in 77.2 innings.
Joe Sabbath has done a nice job as a closer. The sophomore right-hander has eight saves and a 7-2 record with a 3.11 ERA.
4. Little Rock Trojans
Head Coach: Chris Curry is in his 11th season. Curry is a Little Rock native. He played at Mississippi State in 1999. He’s been an assistant coach at Northwestern State and Arkansas.
Despite a 24-32 record, Little Rock is in the NCAA Tournament, because they won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. They won five games in four days as the eight seed. Going into the OVC Tournament they lost 13 of 14 games.
The Trojans best win came on April 15th against Ole Miss, a 7-3 victory in Oxford.
Little Rock won the Ohio Valley regular season last year and they were picked to finish second in the league this year, but they were hit with a rash of injuries that derailed their regular season.
Cooper Chaplain is Little Rock’s best hitter, .321 batting average with 7 home runs and 37 RBIs.
The Trojans do not have a hitter with more than 8 home runs.
Jackson Wells is Little Rock’s ace and he’ll pitch Friday against LSU. He’s 3-6 with a 5.24 ERA. In 2023, the senior right-hander had an ERA of 1.65 and was named the OVC Pitcher of the year. Paul Skenes ERA that season was 1.69.
Wells last start was a beauty. He threw a complete game and allowed one run on six hits and struck out eight against Southern Indiana. He threw a season-high 129 pitches.
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