The Dallas Baptist Patriots baseball team represents

Dallas Baptist University Dallas Baptist University (DBU) is a Christian liberal arts university in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1898 as Decatur Baptist College, Dallas Baptist University currently operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Hurst. History Dallas Baptist Uni ...

, which is located in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

. The Patriots are an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

program that competes in

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

. They began competing in Division I in 2004 and joined the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

in 2014 after only one season with the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

. They are the only Dallas Baptist program in Division I and Conference USA. All other Dallas Baptist programs compete in Division II's

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in Tex ...

. DBU is also the only D-II member that competes in D-I baseball. The Dallas Baptist Patriots play all home games on campus at Joan and Andy Horner Ballpark. Under the direction of Head Coach

Dan Heefner Dan Heefner is an American college baseball coach who has been the head coach of Dallas Baptist since the start of the 2008 season. Under Heefner, the Patriots have reached ten NCAA tournaments, including a Super Regional in 2011. An Olivet ...

, the Patriots have played in nine NCAA Tournaments and hosted their first regional in 2015. Over their six seasons in the Missouri Valley Conference, they have won three MVC regular season titles and four MVC tournaments. Since the program's inception in 1970, 18 Patriots have gone on to play in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, highlighted by 3-time All-Stars

Freddy Sanchez Frederick Phillip Sanchez Jr. (born December 21, 1977) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. Sanchez played in Major League Baseball for the Boston Red Sox (–), Pittsburgh Pirates (–) and San Francisco Giants (–). He ...

and

Ben Zobrist Benjamin Thomas Zobrist (; born May 26, 1981), is an American former professional baseball second baseman and outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays/Rays, Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, and Chi ...

. Under current head coach Dan Heefner, 52 Patriots have been drafted, including

Vic Black Victor Laurence Black (born May 23, 1988) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He has played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB). Career Amateur Black is a right-handed pitcher, wei ...

who was selected in the first round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft.

Conference membership history (Division I only)

* 2004–2012: Independent * 2013:

* 2014–2022:

* 2023–present:

Joan and Andy Horner Ballpark

Joan and Andy Horner Ballpark is a baseball

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

on the Dallas Baptist campus in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

that seats 3,492 people. It was opened on February 15, 2013 with a 9–11 loss to Creighton. A record attendance of 3,242 was set on May 31, 2015 during an NCAA Tournament game against

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Head coaches (Division I only)

Records taken from the 2020 DBU baseball media guide.

Year-by-year NCAA Division I results

Records taken from the 2020 DBU baseball media guide.

NCAA Division I Tournament history

*The

NCAA Division I baseball tournament The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team Men's College World Series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebr ...

started in 1947. *The

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

of the tournament has changed through the years. *Dallas Baptist began playing Division I baseball in 2004.

Awards and honors (Division I only)

* Over their 16 seasons in Division I, 16 Patriots have been named to an NCAA-recognized All-America team. * Over their 6 seasons in the Missouri Valley Conference, 24 different Patriots have been named to the all-conference first-team.

All-Americans

Freshman First-Team All-Americans

Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year

Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year

Missouri Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year

Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year

Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year

Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year

Taken from the 2020 DBU baseball media guide. Updated February 25, 2020.

Patriots in the Major Leagues

Taken from the 2020 DBU baseball media guide. and the 2021 DBU baseball media guide Updated June 9, 2021.

References

{{Conference USA baseball navbox