Dallas Baptist is on the verge of taking another step toward coach Dan Heefner's goal of making the Patriots an elite college baseball program.
The Patriots (39-9) are on a 10-game win streak and are ranked as high as No. 9 in this week's polls. They are headed for their fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in five years.
The difference is the Patriots, No. 1 in the RPI seven of the last eight weeks, are on track to open the tournament at home and earn one of the eight national seeds for the first time. A No. 1 RPI team has never been denied a national seed since the tournament went to its current format in 1999.