Granberg’s rake

Dallas Baptist right fielder Devlin Granberg went 4 for 5 on Saturday to improve to 7 of 9 (.778) at the regional and push his season average to .439.

The right-handed batter increased his season hit total to 107, tied for the most in Dallas Baptist history.

Granberg was hitting .206 as late as game 10 on March 4 before going on a tear, and is 100 of 210 (.476) since then.

“He’s such a steady guy, and he’s really mature,” DBU Coach Dan Heefner said. “He’s a veteran. Smartest guy we have on our team too, so we just knew he was going to keep plugging away. Things started to turn for him and he has not looked back over the last thee-quarters of the season.

“What makes him so tough, too, is he doesn’t really have a hole in his swing. He’s got power but he doesn’t try to hit for power, so he doesn’t cheat the balls. He waits a long time. He handles the entire strike zone really well because he does wait so long.

“He’s a really good offspeed hitter, but he’s so short he can get to the fastball as well. I think the biggest one is he’s got the best handeye coordination or barrel control of anyone I’ve ever had. He can just wait, wait, wait and then puts the barrel on it no matter where it’s at.”

Oral Roberts Coach Ryan Folmar said all teams are looking for a way to pitch Granberg because “nobody’s gotten him out.”

Granberg went 3 for 4 against Southern Miss, including 2 for 3 against firstteam All-America pitcher Nick Sandlin.

“You watch the game last night and a first-team AllAmerican had trouble getting him out,” Folmar said. “He’s a special player. … He handles the entire strike zone. He handles all the pitches. He sees the ball extremely well. You can’t get him off balance. He’s a special hitter. You don’t see guys have that kind of year very often.”