Taking a closer look at Dallas Baptist

For the second straight year, Arkansas has earned the right to stay home for the postseason. The 2018 Fayetteville Regional features Southern Miss, Dallas Baptist and Oral Roberts.

Before play begins Friday, HawgBeat is taking a closer look at all three visiting teams. Next up is the No. 3 seed, Dallas Baptist…

Record: 40-19 (16-5 MVC)

Dallas Baptist received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after finishing second in the Missouri Valley Conference during the regular season and runner-up in the MVC Tournament. The Patriots were two games behind Missouri State in the standings and then lost to the Bears 7-6 in 10 innings in the MVC championship game on Sunday.

Head coach: Dan Heefner (11th season)

This is Heefner’s fifth straight and eighth overall trip to the NCAA Tournament as Dallas Baptist’s head coach. He has guided the Patriots as they’ve gone from an independent, to the WAC and finally to the MVC. Under his leadership, Dallas Baptist has never finished below .500 and has a 428-227 record (.653), with Heefner winning the 2016 MVC Coach of the Year award. Prior to becoming the head coach, he was an assistant at Dallas Baptist for three seasons and had stints as an assistant at Creighton and Northern Iowa.

Recent Postseason History

Each of the last three years, Dallas Baptist has finished runner up in a regional played in the state of Texas. The Patriots came through the loser’s bracket at TCU last season and were one game away from advancing to the super regionals at Texas Tech in 2016 and at its own regional in 2015.

In 2012, Dallas Baptist won its first two games before dropping two straight against Baylor. That was a year after the Patriots advanced out of the Fort Worth Regional to make its first and only super regional appearance.

Common Opponents

Texas Tech

Dallas Baptist swept a home-and-home midweek series against Texas Tech this season. In April, the Patriots hosted the Red Raiders and scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth to come away with a 6-5 win. The next month, they traveled to Lubbock and cruised to a 10-4 victory.

Arkansas was also scheduled to play a couple of midweek games against Texas Tech, but rain shortened it to just one matchup. Highlighted by 4 2/3 perfect innings by reliever Barrett Loseke, the Razorbacks won that game 5-1.

Missouri State

The Patriots had a chance to win a regular-season conference title when they hosted Missouri State at the beginning of the regular season, but won only one of three games and their two losses were by a combined 10 runs. Dallas Baptist also played the Bears in the conference tournament championship game, but lost that as well. Two runs by Missouri State in the bottom of the ninth forced extra innings and then the Bears won it 7-6 in the 10th.

Earlier in the season, Arkansas scored eight straight runs to overcome a four-run deficit and beat Missouri State 11-7 at Baum Stadium.

Projected Starting Lineup

C – Matt Duce (sr.): .231/.372/.435, 17 2B, 9 HR, 49 RBI, 47 BB/36 K, 9/9 SB

1B – Kody Funderburk (jr.): .313/.434/.597, 19 2B, 12 HR, 47 RBI, 43 BB/50 K, 1/1 SB

2B – Blayne Jones (fr.): .209/.284/.299, 4 2B, 3 HR, 21 RBI, 19 BB/50 K, 6/7 SB

3B – Tim Millard (r-jr.): .275/.396/.528, 14 2B, 14 HR, 59 RBI, 35 BB/47 K, 3/5 SB

SS – Jimmy Glowenke (fr.): .327/.425/.535, 16 2B, 9 HR, 45 RBI, 30 BB/25 K, 5/6 SB

LF – Devlin Granberg (sr.): .426/.531/.651, 16 2B, 11 HR, 65 RBI, 50 BB/41 K, 23/24 SB

CF – Jameson Hannah (jr.): .360/.444/.555, 22 2B, 6 HR, 45 RBI, 35 BB/35 K, 8/9 SB

RF – Luke Bandy (soph.): .247/.335/.377, 8 2B, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 15 BB/39 K, 13/16 SB

DH – Garrett Wolforth (jr.): .242/.335/.409, 14 2B, 5 HR, 5 RBI, 21 BB/41 K, 2/3 SB

The Ace

After battling injuries earlier in his career, fifth-year senior Trevor Conn enjoyed his best season in 2018. The right-hander was named the MVC Pitcher of the Year after evolving from a bullpen arm into Dallas Baptist’s ace.

Conn made 16 appearances, including nine starts, and posted an 8-1 record with a 2.92 ERA. He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, as evidenced by only 50 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings, but he did have a 10-strikeout performance against Southern Illinois earlier this season.

The Stud

Devlin Granberg, another senior, was undoubtedly Dallas Baptist’s best player this season, as he was named the MVC Player of the Year.

After beginning his career at Creighton, Granberg spent one year at Cisco College – where he hit an astounding .535 – before arriving at Dallas Baptist. In his first season with the Patriots, he won the MVC’s batting title with a .359 average.

In 2018, Granberg took it to another level. His .426 batting average and .531 on-base percentage rank third and fourth, respectively, in the country. He also has 11 home runs, a team-high 65 RBIs and 23 stolen bases, which ranks third in the MVC.

Those numbers have helped him become one of 25 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award and one of 35 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, college baseball’s top two player of the year awards.

Other All-Conference Honorees

First baseman Kody Funderburk was named the MVC Newcomer of the Year in his first year at Dallas Baptist after transferring from Mesa C.C.

Shortstop Jimmy Glowenke became the first freshman to win the MVC Defensive Player of the Year award since it was created in 2012. He was also named the MVC Freshman of the Year.

First-team All-MVC

Kody Funderburk – 1B

Jimmy Glowenke – SS

Matt Duce – C

Devlin Granberg – OF

Jameson Hannah – OF (No. 32 on MLB.com’s list of the top 200 draft prospects for 2018 – likely to become DBU’s first position player taken in the top three rounds and could become its first ever first-round pick)

Trevor Conn – SP

Kragen Kechely – RP (24 G, 7-1, 1 SV, 3.99 ERA, 51 K/13 BB, 49 2/3 IP)

Second-team All-MVC

Luke Eldred – SP (13 G/11 GS, 6-3, 3.08 ERA, 36 K/2 BB, 49 2/3 IP)

Jarod Bayless – RP (26 G, 2-3, 4 SV, 2.36 ERA, 65 K/22 BB, 49 2/3 IP)

Honorable Mention All-MVC

Tim Millard – 3B

Macgregor Hines – RP (25 G/1 GS, 5-3, 6 SV, 4.05 ERA, 62 K/25 BB, 46 2/3 IP)

MVC All-Defensive Team

Jimmy Glowenke – SS

Jameson Hannah – OF

Coach Connections

All three of Arkansas’ assistant coaches have ties to Dallas Baptist.

Hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Nate Thompson played for the Patriots, lettering as an outfielder in 2004 and 2005, before beginning his coaching career as a student assistant in 2006.

Before a one-year stint at Mississippi State that preceded his current tenure at Arkansas, pitching coach Wes Johnson held the same position at Dallas Baptist from 2012-2015.

Volunteer assistant coach Craig Parry was an assistant at Dallas Baptist from 2014-2016, with his first two seasons overlapping with Johnson’s tenure.

Homecoming for Bandy

Regardless of how the first round of games at the Fayetteville Regional turns out, Arkansas will face a team with a former Northwest Arkansas prep standout on its roster Saturday.

Walker Powell, a pitcher from Fayetteville High, plays for Southern Miss, while Luke Bandy, an outfielder who attended a couple of area private schools, plays for Dallas Baptist.

Following a high school career that included three seasons at Shiloh Christian in Springdale and one season at Providence Academy in Bentonville, Bandy was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the 32nd round of the 2016 MLB Draft. Instead of beginning his professional career, though, Bandy chose to go to college.

He split his time between second base and left field as a freshman last season, but has primarily been an outfielder for the Patriots in 2018. He has improved his batting average by 17 points to .247 and has three home runs and 13 RBIs this season.

Stat Comparison – Arkansas | Dallas Baptist (national rank, out of 297 teams)

RPI: No. 3 | No. 36

Batting average: .299 (19th) | .296 (26th)

Slugging percentage: .484 (9th) | .491 (5th)

On-base percentage: .396 (21st) | .401 (11th)

Home runs: 84 (3rd) | 77 (t-9th)

Runs/game: 7.0 (22nd) | 7.4 (11th)

Stolen bases: 35 (t-233rd) | 72 (t-67th)

ERA: 3.53 (29th) | 4.38 (107th)

WHIP: 1.26 (24th) | 1.39 (82nd)

Strikeouts/9 innings: 9.4 (23rd) | 9.2 (34th)

Strikeout-to-walk ratio: 2.83 (12th) | 2.47 (44th)

Fielding percentage: .971 (115th) | .977 (33rd)