FORT WORTH — The sheer height and distance with which the ball left Andrew Benefield’s bat afforded him a second, maybe two, to enjoy his work.
The Dallas Baptist offense had been dead for the first 52/3 innings Monday. It had gotten in a five-run hole. It had grounded into three double plays. It was staring the end of its season right in the eyes.
Then, in an instant, Benefield changed everything with one mighty swing. He gave the Patriots the lead with a two-out grand slam.
It will be the enduring moment in the Patriots’ 8-5 win over Oregon State to clinch the program’s first super regional berth in a decade.
“I remember seeing the pitch come in. I knew I got it,” Benefield said. “I just don’t really remember much about it. … I was just telling the guys and Coach [Dan Heefner], it didn’t really sink in until the game was over.”
Dallas Baptist will play next weekend against the winner of Tuesday’s Old Dominion-Virginia game — a three-game set with a College World Series berth on the line.
This program has been to the last seven NCAA tournaments. The previous six tries, though, ended in the regional round. It’d been a team good enough to get in but not good enough to advance. It’s a narrative that will be finally be put to rest.
“I think we’ve had a very, very consistent program, making the regionals year in and year out,” Heefner said. “But we’ve kind of gotten to the point where it’s disappointing to not win it. We got to the regional final every year.”
The Patriots won the first two games this weekend. They needed one win in two tries against Oregon State to advance. The Beavers won on a walkoff homer Sunday night. Then, on Monday, with multiple guys injured and a worn-down pitching staff, Dallas Baptist was firmly on the ropes.
That seems to be where this team does best. Down four runs against TCU on Saturday night, it scored five runs in the seventh inning. Down to its last out Sunday night, Dallas Baptist tied it up. And down five runs in the winner-take-all showdown, it exploded for eight runs to make history.
The offense got kick-started after Dallas Baptist grounded into its third double play in the first six innings. Christian Boulware hit a seeing-eye single, followed by a two-run homer from Ryan Wrobleski.
Benefield hit the grand slam in the seventh. Then River Town provided insurance with a two-run home run in the eighth inning. Dallas Baptist took advantage of a taxed Beavers pitching staff that had to play five games, all close, in the span of four days.
Meanwhile, Dallas Baptist relied on Zane Russell to throw 41/3 shutout innings. He’d recorded just 47 outs all season and got 13 more mostly in high-pressure situations when his team needed it the most.
The Patriots lost two of their best offensive players in this regional. First baseman Cole Moore and center fielder Jace Grady were unavailable with injuries.
“I would say the biggest part for us is belief,” Wrobleski said. “For the guys who are going into play for the starters, but at the same time, the guys behind them. We prepare like nobody else. We’re always ready for any situation that the game can throw at us.”
Earlier this season, amid a stretch of six consecutive games canceled because of a COVID-19 outbreak, the team was down to nine available position players. Heefner and his staff were testing out pitchers to see who could slot into the field, if needed. It won that next game.
That experience was akin to the one Dallas Baptist faced halfway through this game. An impossible and dire situation in need of something special.
This series could have gone like the last six regionals. In 2015, Dallas Baptist lost a game seven to VCU at home. In 2016, it lost a game seven to Texas Tech in Lubbock. In 2017, it lost on to TCU on the same Lupton Stadium field it won at on Monday. In 2018, Arkansas won its regional final against the Patriots. In 2019, it was Texas Tech again in the regional final.
This 2021 team could have done the same thing. The score was trending in that direction. The momentum of the game was, too. But then, the turnaround happened. And the raucous fans inside TCU’s home ballpark — made up of many Dallas Baptist baseball alumni — chanted “DBU!” as loud as they could.
This time, fortunes reversed themselves. And after ace starter Dominic Hamel got the save, the dugout and bullpen streamed onto the field to celebrate a moment long in the making.
“[We] really felt like we have a team that we don’t have to overachieve to win a regional,” Heefner said. “It’s a belief. We feel like we’ve arrived.”
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