Dallas Baptist wins 18-4 to eliminate national No. 11 seed Oklahoma State

By Jerry Briggs
For The JB Replay

Miguel Santos hit three home runs and Kodie Kolden smashed two on Saturday afternoon as the Dallas Baptist University Patriots registered an 18-4 victory, eliminating the NCAA Stillwater Regional host Oklahoma State Cowboys from postseason play.

Some around the nation might be scratching their heads at the final verdict.

After all, the Cowboys finished the regular season tied for first place in the Big 12 Conference’s regular-season standings. Last week, they won four games and reached the finals of the Big 12’s postseason event in Arlington.

Given all that, there wasn’t much argument that they deserved the 11th overall seed in the NCAA tournament and No. 1 in the Stillwater Regional.

But in the NCAA postseason, anything can happen, and on this weekend, it did. First, the No. 4 regional seed Oral Roberts Golden Eagles edged the Cowboys 6-4 on Friday.

Next, second-seeded Dallas Baptist of Conference USA put on a power display that left the home team’s fans totally exasperated, their dreams of a trip to the College World Series dashed.

The Patriots cranked out 19 hits, including six home runs. Santos, a junior from Fort Worth, enjoyed a four-hit day and drove in nine runs. He homered in the fourth inning, doubled in the fifth and homered again in the sixth and the seventh.

Kolden, a graduate senior from Idaho, hit home runs in the fourth and sixth innings. Not to be outdone, Nathan Humphreys hit one out in the fifth.

The Patriots, the regular-season champions over second-place UTSA and others in the C-USA, simply rolled with ease to their 46th victory of the year, scoring four runs in the fourth, six in the fifth and four more in the sixth and seventh.

At one point, it was 18-1. With the victory, Dallas Baptist stayed alive in the regional. Bouncing back from a 9-5 loss to the Washington Huskies on Friday, the Patriots moved ahead to play another elimination game scheduled Sunday. They’ll play either Oral Roberts or Washington.

C-USA showdown: Dallas Baptist hits three home runs to down UTSA, 11-7

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Opponents have little room for error when they face the explosive Dallas Baptist Patriots.

Two or three mistakes in a nine-inning game, and the Patriots can bury a team in a deep hole in a hurry. That is pretty much what happened to UTSA on Friday afternoon at Roadrunner Field.

Luke Malone. UTSA played Dallas Baptist in the opener of a Conference USA baseball series on Thursday, May 12, 2023, at Roadrunner Field. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Luke Malone, pitching in relief, yielded 10 runs on nine hits in 6 and 2/3 innings to take the loss against Dallas Baptist. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Ethan Mann, George Specht and Nathan Humphreys homered as 18th-ranked Dallas Baptist rolled to an 11-7 victory over No. 22 UTSA, solidifying its hold on first place in Conference USA.

Mann belted a three-run home run in the third inning. In the fifth, George Specht socked a grand slam over the centerfield wall to highlight a five-run outburst. Humphreys belted a two-run shot in the eighth.

The outburst gave Dallas Baptist, one of the best home-run hitting teams in NCAA Division I, 92 homers in 50 games this season.

With stormy weather in the forecast, the teams are scheduled to play the second game of a doubleheader Friday night. A third game would be played, weather permitting, on either Saturday or Sunday.

Dallas Baptist got the jump on UTSA in the series and increased its lead on UTSA to a game and a half despite three hits each from Dalton Porter and Garrett Poston and two RBIs each from Leyton Barry, Antonio Valdez and Josh Killeen.

Killeen hit a two-run homer for the Roadrunners in the bottom of the ninth to account for the final runs of the game The Roadrunners had two runners on base when the Patriots retired Barry and Taylor Smith to end it.

Records

Dallas Baptist 21-4, 38-12
UTSA 19-5, 36-13

Coming up

Dallas Baptist at UTSA, Friday, 6:30 p.m. (second game of a doubleheader)
Dallas Baptist at UTSA, TBA, either Saturday or Sunday, weather permitting