Dallas Baptist University - Athletics

Athletics

Dallas Baptist University's Patriot Athletic Department sponsors 14 intercollegiate athletics teams, including men's baseball, men's basketball, women's volleyball, women's soccer, tennis, golf, cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. DBU also sponsors cheerleading and beginning in the fall of 2010, ice hockey at the club levels. All teams compete at the NCAA Division II level and compete in the Heartland Conference, with the exception of the baseball team, which is a member of the Division I. Although the baseball team played as an independent for several years, it recently accepted an invitation to join the Western Athletic Conference for the 2013 season. Beginning in the 2014 season, the Patriot Baseball team will be a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Diamond Belles are also an active part of the Patriot Athletic Department, serving as an auxiliary group of the Athletic Department.

In 2008, the Patriots made the NCAA baseball tournament for the first time, marking the first DBU Athletic team to make the NCAA postseason. The Patriots won the Fort Worth Regional in the 2011 tournament to advance to the Super Regional round for the first time.

Ryan Erwin serves as Dallas Baptist University’s Director of Athletics. Over the last several years, additions have been made to the Athletic Department, including the construction of the Sadler Patriot Clubhouse, Patriot Athletic Guesthouse, the addition of Patriot Basketball, Women’s Golf, Cheerleading, and Ice Hockey, and he also helped create and form the Athletic Facilities Department.

The Athletic Department also features a Christ-centered Patriot Discipleship program, entitled “Champions for Christ,” as well as the Athletic Department’s Global Missions Initiative with athletic mission trips to Guatemala, Northern England, Peru, and South Korea. With a focus on academics as well, the school developed the Athletic Study Hall, which has helped boost the department GPA to the highest in the history of Patriot Athletics.

DBU has recently seen their first-ever NCAA Regional appearances in Baseball, Men’s Basketball and Men and Women’s Golf, Women's Volleyball and a National appearance by the Women's Cross Country team.

The men's and women's cross-country/track program holds seven of the school's conference championship wins. All intercollegiate athletic teams also hold membership in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA).