CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The 53 wins are useless now.

So is the No. 3 national ranking.

Because beginning today, the Lee University baseball team is only two losses away from ending its season, and the Flames haven’t even reached the national stage yet.

Lee hosts the NAIA Region XIII tournament beginning today. Five of the six teams are nationally ranked, but only one will have a chance to play in the NAIA World Series in Lewiston, Idaho.

The double-elimination tournament brings together two of the nation’s best NAIA leagues, the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and Lee’s Southern States Athletic Conference. Play opens at noon when the Flames (53-7) face unranked Belhaven College from Jackson, Miss.

The winner of this tournament will advance to one of seven super regionals, best-of-three matchups whose winners will join host school Lewis-Clark State College in the World Series. Two at-large teams will also make the field, but only region champions will be eligible.

So for Lee center fielder and four-year starter Jeremy Hutslar, it’s simple. Win. Advance. Keep your career alive.

“I’m only two games away from ending my college career, and that’s crazy to think about,” Hutslar said. “I don’t think that’s the way it should be. I think the best 10 teams should be in the World Series. But if we win this tournament, then we will definitely deserve to be there.”

The numbers back him up. The Flames, who won 34 straight games from Feb. 8 to March 28, have been ranked in the top three of every poll this year. They are batting .360 as a team and have hit 61 home runs in 60 games, making things easy for a pitching staff that boasts a 3.17 ERA. They have outscored opponents 517-215.

“Here’s one thing I can say about this team,” Lee coach Mark Brew said. “They’ve battled and fought as hard as any team we’ve ever had in the past. Last year we had some marquee players (Lance Zawadzki and Michael Valadez, who went on to major league farm systems), but this year we’re more balanced. We’ve hit one through nine.

“It’s a team that is very capable of going deep in the postseason.”

The team’s collective maturation and the addition of one big bat have kept the Flames among the NAIA’s elite.

Chris Warters moved straight from California’s Glendale Community College into the heart of the Flames’ lineup. He led the SSAC in slugging percentage, doubles and total bases, and he was also in the top five for batting average, hits, RBIs and home runs. He was named SSAC player of the year.

While he’s been consistent all year, Warters’ recent excellence has left observers in disbelief.

“In the last month and a half, he has been one of the hottest players I’ve ever seen in my life,” Hutslar said. “We’ve all been asking ourselves, ‘Is this really happening?’ He just doesn’t get out. He can literally change a game with one swing.”

Said Brew: “I don’t know the official statistics, but I would bet a lot of money that he hit better than .500 in the month of April.”

Warters’ secret?

“I don’t know what it is,” he said. “It just looks like they’re throwing beach balls out there.”

While Warters’ impact has been immeasurable, Lee’s better pitching and added depth have spurred the improvement from last season’s World Series squad, Brew said. Hutslar called the Flames “a nightmare” for opposing pitchers, because everyone in the lineup is capable of producing and scoring runs.

But after losing the conference tournament — the Flames haven’t won the SSAC tourney title since joining the league in 2004 — Lee needs to refocus to duplicate and improve on 2007’s result. And that means surviving a double-elimination gauntlet.

“The setup here is unique,” Brew said. “A great season really means nothing for us now. But that’s what a great tournament atmosphere is supposed to be.

“Survive and advance. Survive and advance.”