More upsets graced the Division II landscape this past week, and nobody knows anything, still. It has been an interesting beginning of the year, with many of the top teams suffering some unexpected losses, even multiple, but then rebounding to balance out their ranking, while teams that were rolling to begin the year are now coming back down to Earth. A few more weeks, and we should have a good idea of where everyone stands, but until then, let's hold tight with what we've got!
#1 Tampa continued rolling, sweeping Georgia Regents with ease, 11-3, 10-4 and 13-4. They'll most likely add three more wins to their docket this week with a series against Stillman, before ending their week with a Sunday exhibition match-up against the Philadelphia Phillies. With the way Tampa is playing, who knows, maybe an upset is in the works.
#2 Seton Hill finally began their season with a three-game series against Coker, taking two of three from the Cobras on the road, with the one loss coming in extra innings. A good start for the Griffins, especially considering Nick Sell was not at his best in the series. They will ratchet up the competition one more notch with a three-game series against Winston-Salem State this weekend.
#3 Mount Olive is continuing to roll since they split their opening series with Lander. The Trojans have won 10 of their last 11 since then, including a three-game sweep of Southern Wesleyan last week. They'll take on Francis Marion in a tough non-conference game this week before heading to Pfeiffer for three.
The defending champions, #4 Southern Indiana, had the week off after their series against Grand Valley State was cancelled, and they will hopefully be back on the diamond this weekend with a two-game series against Minnesota-Duluth. It is scheduled to be in Evansville, where the winter weather is still chilling, so we will see if those games make it to the weekend.
The MIAA is struggling as a whole to start the year. The usual suspects, #5 Emporia State and Central Missouri, haven't gotten off to the start they probably expected. Emporia started the year 4-0, but lost three of four to Missouri Western over the weekend. The Griffons are now 6-5 all year, but more importantly, 3-1 in the conference, and will take on Lindenwood in a four-game series. Emporia, meanwhile, will meet up with the other top contender, Central Missouri, for a four-game series this weekend.
#6 Alabama-Huntsville was slated to take on Lee in a big three-game set, but unfortunately some of that was wiped out. After the Chargers beat the Flames 2-0 in the opener, the second game of the series was declared a 1-1 tie and the final game was cancelled. Alabama-Huntsville still sits at 7-1-1 on the year and will look to keep their great start to the season going with three against Mississippi College this weekend.
After dropping two of three to Fresno Pacific to begin the year, #7 California State-Chico rebounded by taking all three against California State-Stanislaus, with the fourth game getting postponed. The Wildcats will start a difficult stretch this week though, with four against Sonoma State before their big four-game series with UC San Diego next weekend.
#8 Colorado Mesa moved to 8-2 on the year with three wins against California Baptist. They took a 17-3 loss on the chin in the opener, but came back for 10-3, 9-8 and 6-4 victories. They will begin RMAC play this weekend against Colorado Christian. The Mavs *should* start racking up the victories in conference play as the clear-cut favorite in the league.
The #9 Grand Valley State Lakers still remain one of the final teams in all of Division II to hit the diamond yet this year. However, that will change next week, as they begin a stretch of 10 games in eight days beginning on Monday against Gannon at the RussMatt Tournament in Florida.
#10 Columbus State rebounded in a big way, winning all four games last week, including an 8-3 win over Valdosta State in the middle of the week. Then, they took their early-season frustrations out on Young Harris in a three-game sweep where they outscored their opponent 44-5. The schedule will get a little tougher this week with a mid-week game against Tuskegee and a three-game series against North Georgia.
#11 Minnesota State is another highly-ranked team who haven't hit the field yet. They will get out there this weekend with a four-game series at Newman.
#12 Franklin Pierce got on the field for the first time this year and rolled over some overmatched competition at the Ripken Experience, going 5-0 over three days in Myrtle Beach. They'll play three more games this weekend, one against LIU Post and two against Mercy, and should boost their stats a little more with that schedule.
#13 Nova Southeastern falls under the category of one of those teams that was rolling to start the year, but now may be coming back to Earth a little bit. After a 9-0 start, including a three-game sweep of ranked Southern New Hampshire, they lost both of their games since last week, a 14-6 loss to St. Thomas and a 4-2 loss to Palm Beach Atlantic. They will play Northwood (Fla.) today before taking on Albany State in a three-game series this weekend.
#14 Southern Arkansas dominated Southern Nazarene in a three-game series to begin conference play, rolling to 11-0, 12-5 and 17-1 victories to push their winning streak out to five. They'll host Southwestern Oklahoma State in a three-game series this weekend.
The most curious series of the weekend may have been #15 UNC Pembroke traveling to Montevallo. Considering earlier results, this looked like it would be another series of padding stats for the Braves, but Montevallo took two of three in the series. UNC-P's mid-week game this week against Barton has been postponed, but we will get a better idea of where they stand after a three-game series against Shippensburg this weekend.
#16 USC Aiken took two of three against Lander, nearly making it through their early-season conference gauntlet. After being swept by Armstrong State last weekend and taking two of three against Lander this past weekend, they will now take on Georgia College in a three-game series this weekend before things slow down a little bit on the schedule.
#17 UC San Diego went 3-2 last week, beginning the week with a 9-8 loss against Point Loma before taking three of four from Cal State-Dominguez Hills. They dominated the first three games, 12-0, 2-0 and 19-0, but fell 3-1 in the final game. They will have a big mid-week game today against Azusa Pacific before taking on Cal State-East Bay this weekend in a four-game series.
#18 Florida Southern had a reprieve from their early-season schedule, dominating Albany State in a three-game series by football scores of 22-3, 13-3 and 20-8. The reprieve from the schedule will be short-lived, however, as they will face up-and-coming Florida Tech today before taking on Palm Beach Atlantic in a three-game series this weekend.
#19 St. Edward's split a four-game series with Midwest title contender Drury. They won 8-0 and 11-10, but lost 6-2 and 2-0 games, the 6-2 game coming at the hands of Drury's Luke Tewes, who hit three home runs and drove in all six runs in the game. The Hilltoppers should get back on track with four games against Houston-Victoria this week.
#20 Cal Poly Pomona took three of four from Cal State San Bernardino to continue their early season surge. They will take on California Baptist in a competitive four-game series this weekend in non-conference action.
#21 St. Mary's did what they needed to do and swept Mary in a four-game series, outscoring the Marauders 30-6 in the process. Sitting at 8-4 now, they will take on Central Baptist in a four-game series this weekend.
#22 St. Cloud State will hit the diamond this week in Arkansas to take on Harding in a four-game non-conference series, while #23 Mercyhurst will begin the year with a four-game set against Davis & Elkins and #24 Wayne State (Mich.) will head to Nashville to take on Trevecca Nazarene in a three-game series. All three teams will be playing their first games of the season, provided the weather cooperates.
We knew it would be a good test for #25 Armstrong Atlantic State this past weekend with two games against Francis Marion, and they proved to be a pair of competitive games. The Pirates beat Paine, 14-2, in a mid-week game, but dropped 5-4 and 5-3 games to Francis Marion on the road. Sitting at 9-3 on the year now, they are still a top 25 team, in my opinion, and will look to get back on track with three games against Georgia Southwestern this weekend.
Catawba, a team that began the year in the rankings, is now 8-3 after taking two from Brevard. They'll face Newberry for three games this weekend hoping to land back in the rankings. Lander is 6-7 on the year after dropping two of three to USC Aiken, but should boost that record up with a game against Anderson (S.C.) and three against Young Harris this weekend.
A pair of SSC teams, Saint Leo and Florida Tech, should start finding their way in to the rankings this week. Saint Leo is now 13-1 after they swept all four games last week, beating Southeastern (Fla.) 13-4 before sweeping McKendree, 4-0, 6-1 and 14-3. They will take on Embry-Riddle, Eckerd and D-I Nebraska-Omaha on three consecutive days this week to prove their mettle.
Florida Tech is now 12-0 after taking all three from Assumption, 15-2, 7-3 and 6-1. Their 12 wins also includes an 11-4 win over USC Aiken in early February. They will test themselves a little more this week with a mid-week game against Florida Southern and three against Eckerd.
The Lenoir-Rhyne train hit a bump in the road this week, dropping two of three to Wingate to end their 10-game winning streak to begin the year. They have a mid-week game against Belmont Abbey and will face Lincoln Memorial in a three-game series this weekend to try and get back on track, before their schedule really turns up to the tune of Mount Olive and Catawba.
Also of note, Flagler is now 11-1 on the year after sweeping Georgia College in a three-game series. They have been one of the most impressive teams in the country so far, with their lone loss coming to West Florida. They'll face Rollins in a mid-week game before taking on formidable Francis Marion this weekend, a series that should set the two teams apart one way or another.
Look for my preview in the next couple days for another weekend of exciting Division II baseball!
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