The Dallas Baptist Patriots have been a bit of an enigma all season, being ranked at or near the top of the RPI pretty much every single week.
DBU entered conference tournament week ranked second in the RPI according to WarrenNolan.com, trailing only the Miami Hurricanes.
Dallas Baptist did not even win their regular season conference title. That honor went to Missouri State, who finished with an 18-3 record in Missouri Valley play. DBU was just 15-6.
The Patriots didn’t exactly help silence the doubters in the MVC opening round on Wednesday. The Patriots lost 2-0 to Indiana State. The Sycamores entered the day with a record of 8-13 in conference play.
Indiana State starter Jeff Degano gave up just three hits to DBU in eight innings of work, before giving way to Austin Conway, who recorded his eighth save of the season.
As a team, Dallas Baptist was hitting .295 this season before the contest, and was the best offensive team in the conference in almost all of the major categories.
But the Patriots faltered, and faltered at a time where they can’t afford to if they have any hopes and dreams of being a serious player for a regional host or a top-eight national seed.
DBU will get a chance to redeem themselves in the losers bracket, where they’ll take on 6-seeded Evansville Thursday morning at 10 AM ET.
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