The world of Division II baseball must be feeding off the basketball mantra of March Madness, because we are already seeing some exciting developments around the country. We had a Division II team take down an MLB squad, a couple no-hitters to highlight, and some incredible action between top regional teams to begin the season.
First, I want to give some huge recognition to the University of Tampa, the consensus top team in Division II baseball, for pulling off the huge upset on Sunday, taking down the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2, behind a Giovanny Alfonzo grand slam. I alluded to it last week, that nobody should be shocked if Tampa pulls off the upset, and they did just that. It has gotten some media attention, but nearly as much as it should, in my opinion. The last college team to beat one of the MLB squads in an exhibition was the University of Miami beating the then-Florida Marlins in 2011.
Obviously, it was an exhibition, and the first game action for everyone on the Phillies, which only featured one guy in the lineup who will probably see significant regular-season time. But the point still stands that a group of Division II guys did their work against a bunch of pitchers throwing 90+, and the Spartan pitchers kept professional hitters off balance. It speaks to just how head-and-shoulders above the rest of the country Tampa is lately. Multiple guys are getting drafted every year. From a Division II team.
The most comparable occurrence of this I can remember in Division II recently is also in 2011, when Grand Valley State, a team that consisted of three future professional baseball players and which entered Cary with a 52-3 record, played to a 1-1 tie in an exhibition with the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Low-A affiliate for the Detroit Tigers. Of course, it was another case of those players seeing their first game action of the season, and the team did consist of highly-touted prospects like Nick Castellanos and Rob Brantly, but it was nowhere near the talent level of what the Phillies rolled out on Sunday.
With all that said, let's get to some Division II vs Division II goodness from this past week.
Lander actually racked up the first no-hitter in Division II this season when the Bearcats' Kyle Boraski no-hit Young Harris, 10-0, going all nine innings with two walks and eight strikeouts on Saturday.
That feat of a no-hitter was matched by Nova Southeastern on Tuesday evening, as the Sharks used three pitchers to no-hit Felician during a 9-0 victory. NSU's Cameron Churchill went the first seven innings, walking four and striking out six. Zachary Westcott and Devin Raftery went the next two innings, each striking out two hitters to complete the gem. Congratulations to both teams on those accomplishments!
Now, let's get in to the week that was for the top 25 and some other notable teams:
Speaking of #1 Tampa (14-1), their weekly action consisted of not only their defeat of the Phillies, but two wins over Stillman and then a tight win against Lake Erie on Tuesday. LEC led going in to the seventh inning, but Tampa pulled the 5-3 win out with two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth. That is a quality win for the Spartans, as Lake Erie was in the Midwest regional tournament last year and should compete for the GLIAC title and another spot in the regional tournament this year. Tampa will face Cedarville on Wednesday and then face Barry in three-game series this weekend to begin conference play.
#2 Seton Hill (3-2) split a pair of games with Winston-Salem State and are now 3-2 on the year. They will face that same Lake Erie team in a doubleheader on Friday, before facing Saginaw Valley State and Mansfield on Saturday and Ohio Valley for a doubleheader on Monday.
#3 Mount Olive (14-2) has pushed their winning streak to six straight after dominating Pfeiffer in a doubleheader and then shelling Lenoir-Rhyne 11-0 on Tuesday. They'll finish up their two-game series with L-R on Wednesday and take on Limestone in a three-game conference set this weekend.
The defending champion #4 Southern Indiana (1-2) is finding it tough to get games in. They had their fourth and fifth-straight games cancelled this past weekend as a pair of games against Minnesota-Duluth were lost. They should get back on the field this weekend in Nashville with two against Trevecca Nazarene and one against Quincy. They are still looking to rebound after a 1-2 start to the season when they faced Tampa.
#5 Columbus State (11-7) took one on the chin this past weekend, getting swept by North Georgia in a three-game series (9-3, 10-4, 5-4). The Cougars rebounded with a 6-5 win over West Florida on Tuesday and will face the Argos again on Wednesday.
#6 Alabama-Huntsville (9-1-1) swept Mississippi College in a pair of games over the weekend (15-9, 9-6), but lost the third game due to weather. They face LeMoyne Owen in a pair on Wednesday and will have a three-game set with Shorter this weekend.
#7 Chico State (6-4) split a four-game set with Sonoma State over the weekend and will prepare for a huge four-game series with rival UC San Diego this weekend that will feature a spectacular pitching match-up in the opener that we will highlight with Wednesday's preview post.
#8 Colorado Mesa (12-2) did their work in sweeping a four-game series from Colorado Christian and should continue their run through the RMAC with a four-game series against Metro State this upcoming weekend.
#9 Grand Valley State (2-0) finally got their season started in eventful fashion. The Lakers seemingly stole a 13-12 victory from Gannon despite the pitching staff issuing an absurd 15 walks and five hit-by-pitches, including a pair of all-region pitchers last year combining for three innings of work, eight earned runs and 10 walks. Only two hits allowed by that pair of pitchers, however. GVSU was bailed out by their returning hitters, who combined to go 12-for-26 with 11 runs and 10 RBI in the game. The Lakers kept the drama going on Tuesday with a 5-4 walk-off win over Ashland in a non-conference game between the GLIAC North and South favorites. GVSU blew a 4-1 lead in the last two innings before earning the victory in the bottom of the ninth. Their tough Florida spring break schedule will continue with another game against Ashland on Wednesday before they face #11 Minnesota State in a doubleheader, Lewis on Friday, Drury in a doubleheader on Saturday, #15 Florida Southern on Sunday and finish their trip with a game against Wayne State College on Monday.
#10 Emporia State (6-3) beat Newman in their only game last week (16-11), and will get back in to MIAA play with a four-game set against Central Oklahoma this weekend.
#11 Minnesota State (0-0) will be the next-to-last of the top 25 teams to get their season started, as they lost all four games against Newman this past weekend due to weather. They will begin their season with that aforementioned doubleheader against #9 GVSU on Thursday. The Mavericks will then face Drury on Friday, Ashland on Saturday, Ohio Dominican on Sunday, Northwood on Monday, and Alderson Broaddus on Tuesday.
#12 Franklin Pierce (6-0) only got one game in last week, a 3-0 win over Mercy, and will up their competition a little more this weekend with a four-game series against Dowling.
#13 Nova Southeastern (13-3) had a dominating week, sweeping Albany State (18-2, 7-0, 11-1) and no-hitting Felician (9-0), outscoring their opponents 45-3. The competition will ratchet up in a big way this weekend with a three-game series at #21 Saint Leo in one of the biggest D-II series of the year so far.
#14 Southern Arkansas (12-7) dropped two of three to Southwestern Oklahoma State at home, and will look to get back on track with three at Northwestern Oklahoma State this weekend.
#15 Florida Southern (7-7) fell in their lone D-II contest last week, 7-6 to Palm Beach Atlantic, and then tried to pull off the Tampa, but fell 12-2 to the Detroit Tigers in an exhibition on Monday. They will face early-season surprise Flagler on Wednesday before facing #9 GVSU on Sunday.
#16 UNC Pembroke (13-2) rebounded from losing two of three to Montevallo by beating Shippensburg in both of their games this past weekend (6-5, 8-5) before having the series finale cancelled. They will face St. Andrews on Wednesday before a three-game set at Flagler this weekend in another huge series on the D-II landscape.
#17 UC San Diego (13-7) won three of four against Cal State East Bay over the weekend, including that dominating pitching performance from Justin Donatella on Friday. On the flip side of that game, the Tritons also found themselves on the other end of an intriguing performance just two days later, as they lost a 21-10 game after committing an incredible 11 errors, one shy of the single-game Division II record. They will take on #7 Chico State in a huge four-game CCAA series this weekend that will feature a big pitching match-up in the series opener that we will preview here on Wednesday.
#18 Cal Poly Pomona (11-3) took three of four from California Baptist and will face Cal State Monterey Bay in a four-game CCAA series this weekend.
#19 USC Aiken (11-6) had a solid weekend, taking two of three from Georgia College. They will continue conference play with three at Georgia Southwestern this weekend, which should boost them above .500 in the Peach Belt.
#20 St. Mary's (12-4) swept through four games against Central Baptist, and will begin Heartland conference play with three against Rogers State this weekend.
#21 Saint Leo (17-1) is still the #2 team in the country so far for me this season, as they pushed their winning streak to eight with a 4-3 win over Division I Nebraska-Omaha and a 6-2 victory over Saint Anselm. As mentioned earlier, they will take on #13 Nova Southeastern in arguably the biggest series of the weekend, at home. It will be a chance for Saint Leo to cement themselves as a top 10 team in D-II if they can pull of a sweep, or even take two of three. The same can be said for the Sharks. The Lions have a silly 29 home runs already on the year in 18 games. The lower-seamed balls are clearly flying out for Saint Leo.
#22 St. Cloud State (5-0) got their season started by beating Harding five times in the rare five-game series that was actually supposed to be six games. The Huskies will have a busy week ahead as they head to Tucson to face Malone on Saturday, SW Minnesota State on Sunday, Bemidji State and Arizona Christian on Monday and Briar Cliff on Tuesday.
#23 Mercyhurst (0-0) will be the last of the currently-ranked top 25 to get their season started, as they will finally kick off the year with a three-game series against Lock Haven this weekend. They will then face Coker on Monday and Pfeiffer on Tuesday.
#24 Wayne State (1-2) didn't quite get off to the start they were hoping for, dropping two of three to Trevecca Nazarene to begin the year. We will know more about the Warriors after next week, when they spend their spring break at the RussMatt Invite. They have this weekend off, but will face St. Joseph's and Saint Ambrose on Tuesday to begin their trip. They will also have a pair of games against Minnesota State during that trip. Could the series have also been a wake-up call for TNU?
#25 Erskine (14-1) swept three from Barton, but their gaudy record is deceiving if you look at their schedule thus far. They will begin testing themselves a little more this weekend with a three-game set against Belmont Abbey.
Flagler (13-2) split a pair of games with Francis Marion over the weekend and still seem like the legitimate team that they have appeared to be all season. They will face a tough gauntlet this week with a game against #15 Florida Southern on Wednesday and a three-game Peach Belt Conference series against UNC Pembroke this weekend. Three of four this week will firmly plant Flagler in the new rankings, I believe.
Armstrong State (13-3) swept all four games last week, including three from Georgia Southwestern and one from Claflin. They will look to hop in to the rankings after facing Lander three times this weekend and Mount Olive on Tuesday.
Speaking of Lander, the Bearcats (9-8) took two of three from Young Harris over the weekend, including a no-hitter, and defeated Newberry 3-2 on Tuesday. They will look to inch their way back towards the rankings with a three-game set against Armstrong State.
Francis Marion (9-4) split with Flagler, and will most likely up their record this week with one against Saint Augustine's and three against Montevallo.
After starting the season with 10 straight wins, Lenoir-Rhyne (11-6) has dropped six of their last seven. They were swept in three games by Lincoln Memorial and lost to Mount Olive on Tuesday. They will face the Trojans again on Wednesday and then face Catawba in a three-game series this weekend.
Catawba (12-4) beat Pfeiffer, took two of three from Newberry, and dominated Davis & Elkins. They should threaten to join the rankings if they are able to take two or sweep Lenoir-Rhyne this weekend.
Check back in on Wednesday as we preview some of the nation's biggest Division II match-ups this upcoming weekend!
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