DALLAS BAPTIST @ WICHITA STATE    
May 9-11 | Wichita, Kansas | Eck Stadium  
                                                        
MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE
DBU Audio: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Livestats: WSU Live Stats
Facebook: DBU Athletics
 
SERIES INFORMATION
Dates: May 9-11                              
Time: 6:30 PM (Fri.) 2 PM (Sat.) 1 PM (Sun.)                                         
Stadium: Eck Stadium (7,851)                                      
Broadcast: Patriot Broadcasting Network
Talent: Reagan Ratcliff, Brendan Smith, and Nate Frieling
 
PROBABLE STARTERS
 
Friday, May 9
DBU – RHP Cy Sneed (7-2, 3.66 ERA, 78.2 IP, 28 BB, 64 K)
vs.
WSU – RHP Cale Elam (6-1, 1.98 ERA, 72.2 IP, 12 BB, 64 K)
 
Saturday, May 10
DBU – RHP Paul Voelker (7-4, 3.21 ERA, 73 IP, 27 BB, 70 K)
vs.
WSU – RHP A.J. Ladwig (3-5, 1.16 ERA, 85.1 IP, 12 BB, 57 K)
 
Sunday, May 9
DBU – RHP Cory Taylor (3-4, 3.65 ERA, 66.2 IP, 34 BB, 72 K)
vs. 
WSU – RHP Sam Tewes (7-2, 3.15 ERA, 23 BB, 36 K)
 

FIRST PITCH – The Dallas Baptist Baseball Team begins its final road trip of the regular campaign this weekend with an important three-game set at Wichita State University. Both programs are deadlocked in a three-way tie for third place, along with Indiana State; sitting a game behind Illinois State for second and two games out of first occupied by University of Evansville.
 
A critical series that could dictate final seeding in the Missouri Valley Conference will take place in Wichita, Kansas on Friday at 6:30 PM. First pitch for Saturday and Sunday are at 2 PM and 1 PM, respectively.
 
The Patriots (31-17, 9-6) have dropped the past two in a row, but did win the latest MVC series at Horner Ballpark, last weekend over Missouri State. DBU won in both games by a run, extending its record to 11-4 in one-run affairs.

With only seven contests remaining, counting six in conference play, the Patriot Baseball Club will be seeking to get on a hot streak similar to its 9-2 start at the beginning of the year. The squad's longest winning streak is eight in a row, and has posted a 14-9 showing on the road.  
 
LAST TIME ON THE DIAMOND – The Patriots were handed their widest margin setback of the year to No.23 Texas Tech University at Horner Ballpark on Tuesday.
 
After putting runners on the corners in the first inning, DBU couldn't bring anyone in, and a four-run third inning shifted the momentum in favor of the hot Red Raiders club.
 
TTU, who entered winning 12 of last 14, finally got to sophomore, Joseph Shaw, who made first start on the season last week with an astounding one-hit, six inning shutout versus Oklahoma. It was only the right-hander's second career start in a 9-1 final.
 
After the Red Raiders got a leadoff single, Shaw recorded back-to-back punch outs and seemed poised to get out of the frame. However a wild pitch and walk set up more trouble for the righty. A two-out single broke the scoreless tie, but Stephen Smith's triple helped produce a crooked number in the third. Smith later scored on a wild pitch to complete the scoring that inning.
 
Shaw's final line was four innings, allowing four runs on four hits, with a walk and four strikeouts. Six relievers would toe the rubber for DBU, and try to hold a potent TTU offense that hit three home runs on the afternoon; the most the Patriots have surrendered in a game this season.
 
The visiting team with the fifth-highest number of victories nationally would pull away tallying runs on the board in the fifth through eighth innings. After doubling the advantage in the fifth, the Red Raiders increased the edge eventually to 18-0.
 
DBU scratched three runs on the board in the ninth, taking advantage of an error that allowed freshman, David Martinelli, to reach on. Six individual Patriots recorded hits in the contest, with senior, RJ Talamantes, pinch-hitting and driving in a team-high, two runs.
                                                                     
HITTING NOTES – As a team, the Patriots have gotten the long ball to work for them, powering 32 total to produce the highest amount in the MVC entering the weekend. Their weekend opponent, Wichita State, is second with 31.
 
Senior, Mike Wesolowski, leads the club with 56 hits in 191 at-bats for a .293 batting average. He had another nice weekend series versus Missouri State picking up three hits, scoring a run, and driving in three, including two that were game-winners in the first two victories against Missouri State.
 
The native of Mesa, Arizona, also ranks near the top on the team coming in second with 40 runs scored; the second player to eclipse that mark, and is tied for third with 10 doubles and four homers.
 
Sophomore, Austin Listi, continues to heat-up at the plate, being instrumental in Friday's walk-off win with his eighth long ball of the year and second in two-straight games. The sophomore center fielder has raised his average 34 points since April 5, and after his 1-for-4 performance Tuesday, is now second at a .283 clip.

Listi has hit safely in 10 of the last 11 contests, including an eight-game hitting stretch snapped last Saturday. He leads the club and league crossing the plate 44 times and has 34 RBI to sit second overall.  

Sophomore, Daniel Salters, has been a triple machine this year, tying eighth in the nation for triples Sunday, the native of Eufala, Oklahoma, racked up his sixth three-bagger of the season, increasing his team-lead. He is only two shy from moving into a tie for the second most triples in program history since DBU became a NCAA Division I program in 2004.
                               
ON THE BUMP – Through 432.1 innings, the Dallas Baptist pitching staff has allowed 226 runs (182 earned) while walking 192 and punching out 413.  The Patriots have compiled a 3.79 ERA, and their total strikeouts places them in second behind Illinois State.
 
Juniors, Cy Sneed, and Paul Voelker, lead the club with seven wins apiece and 12 starts on the season.
 
Voelker paces the starting staff with the lowest ERA at a 3.21 clip. He has fanned 70 opposing batters to rank second behind sophomore, Cory Taylor, the club's typical third starter of the weekend. Taylor has punched out 72 total opponents.
 
In his latest outing, Voelker again limited the Bears to no runs on six hits with seven strikeouts in 7.2 innings. That was just an out shy of the right-hander's season-long, eight inning outing at Springfield, Missouri earlier in the year. He fanned eight total in that two-hitter.
 
Sneed has been durable, logging the most innings pitched on the season with 78.2. The native of Twin Falls, Idaho, threw seven innings last weekend, allowing four runs on five hits, while walking three and striking out seven; which tied a second-highest amount on the campaign.
 
Through 12 starts, Sneed has been able to pitch at least through the sixth inning in 10 appearances, for a club-high. His season-long was eight innings at Missouri State earlier this year. On the road, the three-year starter has posted a 5-1 record.

Sophomore, Brandon Koch, remains spectacular with an ERA south of 1.00 out of the pen.  His 0.63 clip is the lowest on the squad, and his 51 strikeouts are most amongst all Patriot relievers.  The closer leads the relief corps in wins with five and saves with seven, increasing one of each category over the weekend. 
 
The righty has worked 13.2 consecutive innings and gone eight-straight appearances without surrendering a run.  Prior to his last run allowed back on March 22 versus Utah Valley, Koch had a season-long, 13-inning scoreless streak.
 
SCOUTING THE SHOCKERS – Wichita State, the preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley Conference title, enter this weekend in a three-way tie for third place with Dallas Baptist and Indiana State.  The Shockers lost 10-4 on Tuesday night versus Kansas State.   In their last 10 games, Wichita State is 4-6.

Offensively, Wichita State entered this week ranked third in the conference with a .280 team batting average  Their 31 homeruns as a team are tied with Dallas Baptist for the most in the conference.

Casey Gillaspie, a switch-hitting first baseman, leads the MVC in hitting with a .401 average and is also tops in the league in homeruns, slugging percentage, on base percentage, and RBI.  His 12 homeruns are the most by a Shocker since Drew Moffit hit 26 in 2004.  On Saturday against Bradley, he homered from both sides of the plate for the second time in one game this season.

Daniel Kihle is the only other Shocker hitting above .300.  His .325 average is ninth best in the conference.

Tanner Dearman is second in the MVC with 20 stolen bases in 23 attempts.

On the mound, Wichita State owns the conferences third best ERA at 3.22, just one spot ahead of DBU's 3.37. 

A.J. Ladwig owns the league's top ERA at 1.16, to go along with a 3-5 record.  

Cale Elam is 6-1 and is fourth in the MVC with a 1.98 ERA.  Elam was named the Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Week last week after he tossed eight shutout innings and allowed just two singles and two walks, while striking out six.  led the Shockers to a win over Bradley on Saturday.

Sam Tewes is tops on the staff in wins with a 7-2 record.  Tewes's win total is tied with DBU's, Cy Sneed, and Illinois State's, Dan Savas for second most in the league behind Kyle Freeland's eight.

The Shockers are the third best fielding team in the conference with a .970 fielding percentage, just one percentage point ahead of DBU.
 
SERIES HISTORY – The teams have met seven times previously, with Wichita State leading the all-time series 6-1 overall. After first playing in 2010 with DBU being swept at Wichita State, the clubs played once in 2011 and three times in 2012.
 
The Patriots fell in the first six match-ups, before snapping the unblemished WSU squad in the finale of a three-game set in 2012. DBU won that affair 4-1. Six meetings have been held at Wichita's home field, and the Patriots Ballclub has gone 1-5 overall.
 
HEEFNER CLOSING IN ON 250 – Dallas Baptist head coach, Dan Heefner, is approaching 250 career wins.  The 36-year old Heefner, who is in his seventh season as the Patriots' head coach, owns a career-record of 247-149 for a .624 winning percentage.
Heefner entered the 2014 season with a .621 win percentage, ranking him as the 34^th winningest active coach in NCAA Division I Baseball.  Heefner will coach in his 400^th career game on Tuesday, May 13 versus Oklahoma.
 
POSTSEASON OUTLOOK – The Patriots enter the week in a three-way tie for third place with Wichita State and Indiana State. The trio of teams are two games behind MVC leader, University of Evansville.
 
The top two clubs, Evansville and Illinois State, will compete at Evansville, Indiana, over the weekend for three games, while Indiana State is at Missouri State. 

DBU dropped two out of three to Indiana State and Evansville, prior to snapping its conference series slide last weekend at home against Missouri State. The Patriots have won three conference sets, including its lone sweep in the first one at Bradley University.
 
On the road overall, the club is 14-9, and has gone 6-3 versus MVC foes at their home venues. The Patriots opened with five-straight road conference wins.
 
According to WarrenNolan.com Baseball, Dallas Baptist sits with a #35 RPI ranking. In the MVC, Indiana State notched a #20 RPI, which is the highest in the league. Evansville is #61, while the Patriots' remaining opponents: Wichita State is #94, Oklahoma is #112, and Southern Illinois is #181.   
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULE – After finishing the last road trip of the regular season, Dallas Baptist is back at Horner Ballpark to conclude the non-conference portion of the campaign with a Tuesday afternoon re-match against Oklahoma on May 13. First pitch is at 6:30 PM, and DBU goes for a season-series sweep after winning 9-1 at Norman, Oklahoma.
 
The final four contests for the Patriots are at home, including closing out a three-game set with conference opponent, Southern Illinois on May 15-17.