First, a little schedule update going forward. Currently, I plan on posting just once a week in these recap styles. However, once the entire country gets their season started, I plan on putting up multiple posts a week. Right now, it is mostly the southern schools playing and most of the NE/MW teams have not gotten started, and won't until early March. At that time, you can expect more in-depth posts from me.
With that said, we can get in to week two action!
#1 Tampa continued rolling in advance of their big weekend series this upcoming week. Tampa swept Georgia College (5-3, 8-7, 7-2), putting them at 6-0 on the year as defending champion Southern Indiana heads in to town for a three-game series this weekend.
#3 Columbus State had a good showing at Lynn, taking two of three at Lynn's home park. They won the first day's doubleheader, 5-2 and 5-1, before dropping the final game on Sunday, 5-2. The Cougars will have a good challenge this weekend with a three-game series at UNC Pembroke.
#4 Mt. Olive swept through Saint Anselm with ease, taking the three-game series 11-2, 8-4 and 6-2. They will take on Virginia State on Wednesday before heading to Lakeland for a three-game series with Florida Southern this weekend, another big series on a national scale.
#6 Southern Arkansas, after surprisingly dropping a game against Lindenwood last week, had five games on their schedule for this past week at the QuikTrip Classic. It started off with two wins in extra innings, against Nebraska-Kearney (3-2) and West Texas A&M (4-3), but that was followed by a pair of losses to Arkansas-Monticello (6-2) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (6-4). They finished the schedule with an 11-1 rolling of Pittsburg State, but you can still bet that the Muleriders aren't as happy with their record as they probably expected to be at this point. Things won't get much easier this weekend, as they'll play another five games, with two of them against perennial contender Central Missouri.
#8 Emporia State rolled through Metro State in their first series of the year. 17-6, 13-5, 9-0 scores got the Hornets' year off on the right foot.
#10 Alabama-Huntsville dominated Maryville in a three-game series to begin the year, but will ratchet up the competition this week with a mid-week game against Tuskegee and a three-game conference set against West Georgia.
#13 Florida Southern got back on track with a three-game sweep of Claflin (13-2, 13-6, 10-4) after dropping their first two games of the year to West Florida. The Mocs will face possibly their stiffest week of the year this week, meeting Saint Leo for a Tuesday game before taking on Mt. Olive in a three-game set over the weekend.
The biggest series of last week, nationally, was the two-game set between #14 Colorado Mesa and #19 UC San Diego. It was Mesa taking it to the Tritons, holding them scoreless over the two games in a pair of 2-0 victories. In the opening game, Matt Delay struck out nine and allowed only three hits in five innings, while Ryan Reno followed that up with five innings of one-hit ball with five strikeouts in the second contest. Dominating pitching performance all around from the Mavericks as they allowed only eight hits total.
Another big national series from last week was #15 Trevecca Nazarene traveling to #16 USC Aiken. This was a chance for TNU to prove they are ready for the big stage heading in to their first year of NCAA postseason eligibility. Unfortunately, it seems that at least early in the season, that may have been a little lofty. USC Aiken rolled to a three-game sweep, 7-6, 19-6 and 17-5. USC Aiken moves to 6-0 on the year, while TNU will look to get back on track with three games against Maryville this weekend. Aiken faces a solid schedule this week with a Monday game against Florida Tech and a three-game weekend series at Armstrong Atlantic State.
#17 St. Mary's got to compete in my favorite of the early-season Division II tournaments, heading to Minute Maid Park in Houston where they got four games in. It was solid competition all around in the Astros' ballpark, with St. Mary's going 2-2 on the week with wins against Arkansas Tech and Winona State. Losses to Tarleton State and Central Missouri made it an even week. They'll take on Tarleton State another three times this weekend.
#18 Lander, who split their season-opening series with Mt. Olive, went 3-1 last week to up their record to 4-2 on the year. They started the week with wins over Claflin (6-2) and a pair of high-scoring victories over North Greenville (17-4 and 14-11), but dropped the finale to North Greenville, 12-8. They'll face Claflin again this week and face Flagler in three games over the weekend. It should be an easy week for Lander.
#20 St. Edward's took three of four from Lindenwood, as Lindenwood stole another game from a ranked team this year. St. Edward's swept the first doubleheader, 8-6 and 7-6, before dropping a 10-9 game in the opener of the second day. An 11-8 victory in the capper put St. Edward's at 4-3 on the year. It was a good rebound from a disappointing opening weekend, but I'm sure the Hilltoppers are looking for better.
#21 Dixie State took it on the chin in week one, dropping all four games to Cal Poly Pomona to open the year. It could be a disastrous start for the Red Storm as they will now face Colorado Mesa in four games this weekend. Dixie State could be staring an 0-8 record in the face after starting the year ranked.
#25 Catawba dropped two in a three-game set, this time to Carson-Newman. 5-4 and 1-0 losses preceded a 6-3 win in the series closer, but it is still a disappointing 3-3 start to the season for the Indians. They'll face Stillman three times this weekend.
Also of note: Saint Leo now sits at 6-0 on the year after sweeping Salem International in three laughers, as they should have been. After an easy start to the year, they'll face Florida Southern and Albany State this weekend in addition to Montevallo and Lindenwood.
This week's top match-ups:
#5 (0-0) Southern Indiana @ #1 (6-0) Tampa (2/13, 2/14, 2/15): Quite possibly the biggest regular season series of the entire year, as the defending champs head to Tampa for a three-game set. Tampa has rolled through their season so far, and it will be the season openers for USI. I think everyone knows Tampa is going to be there at the end, but this will be an incredible test to see if USI is returning enough to compete for another title.
#3 (5-1) Columbus State @ (7-0) UNC Pembroke (2/14 (DH), 2/15): UNC-P has been crushing lesser opponents to begin the year. They are a solid team, and have scored in double digits in six of their seven games, so far. Having the Cougars come in to town will be a good series to see if UNC-P is for real, and will be the third straight tough non-conference series for CSU.
#7 (0-0) Chico State @ (4-1) Fresno Pacific (2/13, 2/14 (DH)): It will be the season openers for Chico State, another potential title contender, and it will be a tough test to begin the year.
(6-0) Saint Leo @ (3-2) Florida Southern (2/10): Only one game, but it will be a good test for Saint Leo after an easy schedule so far.
(5-1) #4 Mt. Olive @ (3-2) Florida Southern (2/14 (DH), 2/15): The back-end of Florida Southern's tough weekend will be a doozy, as the Trojans head in to town. The Mocs are gonna want a couple upsets to go their way this weekend to compete for a regional tournament spot.
(4-1) North Alabama @ (5-0) West Florida (2/14 (DH), 2/15): UWF had a good start to their year with a pair of wins over Florida Southern, and have kept rolling since. UNA began the year with four straight wins and will face LeMoyne Owen on Wednesday, but it should be a great series that will most likely be a 2-1 split for someone.
(5-1) Lubbock Christian @ (4-1) Angelo State (2/13, 2/14, 2/15): A solid three-game series between a couple regional tournament potentials.
(0-0) Southern New Hampshire @ (6-0) Nova Southeastern (2/13, 2/14, 2/15): SNHU will most likely be a top-two seed in their region at year's end, and this series will be their season-opener. Nova has been spectacular to start the year, including a three-game sweep over Delta State this past weekend.
(3-1) West Georgia @ #10 (3-0) Alabama-Huntsville (2/14 (DH), 2/15): The Chargers had an easy start to their season, and will already be getting in to conference play with another solid team in UWG. UAH will be trying to get by Tuskegee on Tuesday, first.
No comments:
Post a Comment