COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: BATON ROUGE REGIONAL

June 1, 2025

Dave Heefner

Luke Heefner

Rian Schwede

DBU Patriots

Postgame Press Conference

Little Rock 8, Dallas Baptist 6

DAVE HEEFNER: Well, I'm really proud of this group. I think they were a joy to coach, just watching the way they bonded together, the way they grew this season, the things they accomplished during the regular season. To win a conference championship, to be in the talks until the last final couple weeks of the season, to potentially be able to host, a lot to be proud of.

Obviously disappointed with how we played here at the finish because it's not who we are. I hate that for these guys, but it doesn't diminish in my mind what they've done all season long and the type of people they are, the type of teammates they are and the relationships they've built. So I'm really proud of them.

Q. For both of you guys, what makes Dallas Baptist so special, especially for you guys choosing it and having the success that you've had this year?

LUKE HEEFNER: I think the thing that makes this place so special is that it's more than baseball. You guys know the track record of how good we are and how consistent we are. We're one of the best teams in the nation, and our track record proves that.

But the thing that makes DBU so special is Coach and my dad, just he builds us into better men. It's not just about baseball. It's about our faith in God and growing as better men and better teammates and then later for better husbands and fathers.

I think that's what makes DBU so special is that it's not just about baseball, it's about being a better man and being a man for God.

RIAN SCHWEDE: Yeah, so being my first year here, I got welcomed into the program by a bunch of guys. Couldn't be happier with this group, obviously, and brothers for life as everybody says. But this group is just special because you bond not only on the field in the 98-degree weather in Dallas, but at the same time you're growing closer to God with your brothers next to you. I think that's been my biggest step here, and I couldn't be happier with the group.

Q. Luke, you guys fell behind early but you kept battling and obviously you had a chance going into the ninth inning. It's not what you want, but just talk about the fact that you guys stayed with it and still had a chance to win.

LUKE HEEFNER: Yeah, that's one thing we talked about last night is we wanted to show what DBU baseball was about. And one thing that we've done all year is that we persevere and we never stop fighting. We keep pushing and fighting and pass the baton.

That's our mentality. We get it to the next guy. We weren't going to let anybody change that today, and we were just going to keep fighting until the very last pitch.

Q. Rian, you said this being your first year here and what Luke was talking about, the record of this program, could you maybe share the experience of coming here?

RIAN SCHWEDE: Yeah, this lineup can do magical things, which has been all year. Getting the trust from Coach to put me on the mound today, I couldn't thank him more.

Then obviously being here as a new guy and coming in, the program itself, the history is made. It is consistently in a winning column. It's 11 straight now regionals. So I believe it just continues to show what we put in every single day works, and it's successful and continues to work in the correct way.

Q. Coach, when Chris Curry was in here, he was complimentary of you personally but also your program. He looked forward to this matchup because of the respect for your program. Your program has put the numbers out there to earn the respect, and Coach was talking about how much he looked forward to playing a program like yours. Talk about what that means to you and what you're continuing to build.

DAVE HEEFNER: Yeah, that's a huge honor that Chris would say that. I've got the utmost respect for him. He's got an incredible reputation, great baseball coach, and really does it the right way, treats his guys the right way. Yeah, so to hear that from him and to be able to compete against him at this level was really fun.

But yeah, a lot of pride about our program and just what the guys have accomplished. But for me personally, the thing that I'm most proud of is just the people. You can just go through -- like a Rian Schwede and coming in brand new, it didn't take him but probably two to three weeks where he was a guy in our clubhouse and just gelled right with the guys. Guys looked up to him.

And I could go through guy after guy after guy and just tell what each individual guy, what makes them special, the accomplishments on the field. But the relationships these guys have developed, the way they buy in, the way they let us coach them hard, that's what I'm most proud of. It's really cool to hear a guy of Chris's caliber kind of recognize that and acknowledge that.

Q. In this ever-changing world, name, image and likeness, transfer portal, being able to remain consistent with this program, what has this process been like? And overall what is it like to be at Dallas Baptist and have this program have the success that you guys have been having?

DAVE HEEFNER: Yeah, so 2008 was my first year. We were fortunate enough to go to a regional that first season. Went to a super in '11, went again in '12, and then we started this run of consecutive ones in '14.

All along the way we feel like we're a little bit of the underdog and backs against the wall a little bit and have to figure out how -- we can't just look at how everybody else is doing it. We've got to look at what they're doing and then how do we do it and make it work in our situation.

It's been different all throughout. And like you said, the landscape has changed dramatically, and we're watching that. We're adapting with it. We're not going to be able to do it the same way LSU does it, but that's who we're trying to compete against.

Every single day we're just trying to learn and make the changes we need to make. And obviously this weekend showed us some things that need to change and how we need to get better if we want to continue to be at the level that we're at. The goal is not just to get to the postseason. We get here all the time. We've been to supers twice. We've hosted before, but we have not been to Omaha, and that's the goal.

Then it's just looking at what's going on around us and what are we going to do to be able to keep up and even get over the hump. We can't just try to keep doing what we're doing when everybody else is going like this. We're trying to make the changes to go with them.

I think just the history of this program, the foundation that's been built, we don't want to take a step backwards, we want to keep pushing. But we want to be creative with how we do it, as well.

Q. Talk about your staff and the process of developing players. What's special about that with you guys and this program?

DAVE HEEFNER: Yeah, I think to me, the two special things about our program are what they hit on, is kind of the brotherhood, how much the guys care for each other. And then the other one is development. It is something we're passionate about, talking about how are we going to compete at this level.

Well, we know it's not going to be just recruit and let the cream rise to the top. We've got to recruit the best guys we can get, but we're also not just looking for talented players. We're looking for guys who love baseball, want to be pushed hard. And then every single day we're trying to help them reach a new level.

We've got a tremendous staff who has that same mentality. We're looking for players who want that. And we feel like that's been a huge way that we've bridged that gap and been able to compete at the national level. Our goal is to be -- we're unashamed to say it. Our goal is to be the best in the country at developing our players.

And I'm really proud of our staff. That's the goal every single day. Every day you learn. And there's some things we've got to get better at, better at how we do it, and some changes that we're thinking about to make for next year.

But that's kind of the process. It's literally, what just happened, how are we going to get better, what changes do we need to make. Let's make those changes and keep going.

But yeah, we've got a tremendous staff and have through the years. You look at some of the coaches that have been through our program, pretty special people, and this staff is no different.