Some huge performances highlighted week four in Division II baseball. We had our first no-hitter of the season thrown, a plethora of home runs hit, and some outrageous team performances (ahem, Nova Southeastern and Chico State). Below, we highlight the Top 25's performance over the last week and some games of note that took place.
Congratulations go out to Northwest Nazarene's Colton Loomis, who tossed the season's first no-hitter in Division II. Loomis mowed down Azusa Pacific in a seven-inning contest, striking out seven and walking four in the game. For his efforts, Loomis was named both the Regional Pitcher of the Week and the GNAC Pitcher of the Week. On the season, he is 2-1 with a 0.96 ERA and only nine hits allowed in 18.2 innings on the mound.
On nearly the other side of the country, Tiffin's Nick Hueneburg had one of the best games of the year by an individual player. Hueneburg went 3-for-4 with three runs, three home runs and seven RBI against Lincoln Memorial, the first three-home run game of the season in Division II so far this year (to my knowledge). He followed that game with another home run in game two of the series.
With that said, here is our review of the Top 25 (plus a bunch!) from this past week:
#1 St. Cloud State (3-0): SCSU is off until March 7th.
#2 Franklin Pierce (0-0): The Ravens begin their season on February 26th.
#3 Millersville (6-1): The Marauders rolled their three PSAC opponents in non-conference play, beating Pitt-Johnstown (21-1), Seton Hill (14-5) and Indiana (Pa.) (15-7) in dominating performances. Starting pitcher Brandon Miller was named PSAC East Pitcher of the Week for wins against Winston-Salem State and Pitt-Johnstown. He allowed a .103 batting average against and struck out 14 in 11.2 innings on the mound.
#4 Colorado Mesa (6-1): Mesa picked up the series victory in our Marquee Match-Up of the Week, winning three of four games at California Baptist. The Mavericks won games one (9-1) and two (5-4) before falling in game three (6-1). They wrapped up the series with a hard-fought 5-4 victory in the series capper.
#5 Tampa (8-1): The Spartans were off over the weekend.
#6 St. Edward's (10-3): The Hilltoppers crushed Midwest foe Drury in a four-game series at home, sweeping all four games (9-2, 4-3, 10-1, 5-2). In his start over the weekend, Collin Sherrod became SEU's career leader in strikeouts, fanning 10 in seven innings to move his career total to 278 whiffs.
#7 Quincy (0-0): QU begins their season on February 26th.
#8 Missouri Southern (8-0): The Lions kept their undefeated start of the season going with a three-game sweep of McKendree at home (18-2, 12-7, 5-1). With the performance, MSSU swept the MIAA Player of the Week awards, as Jesse Rall (hit for cycle in a 5-5 day in game one against McKendree) and Zach Litchen (three inning save, struck out six in six innings of relief against McKendree) claimed the honors.
#9 Minnesota State (3-0): The Mavs will be back in action on March 3rd.
#10 West Florida (5-5): UWF took two of three from Mississippi College, dropping game one (10-4) but sweeping the next day's doubleheader (22-2 and 8-1) to even up their record on the season. Robert Lopez was named GSC Freshman of the Week after hitting .857 (!), going 6-for-7 from the plate and reaching base in 10 of 11 plate appearances.
#11 Cal Poly Pomona (7-3): The Broncos won their only game of the weekend with a 6-3 triumph over Vanguard on Monday.
#12 Mercyhurst (3-1): The Lakers will return to the field on March 12th.
#13 California Baptist (6-5): CBU took it on the chin a little bit this past weekend, dropping three of four to Colorado Mesa in our Marquee Match-Up of the Week. Their lone win came in the third game of the series, a 6-1 triumph.
#14 West Alabama (7-4): UWA dropped two games of a three-game series at Delta State, winning the opener 13-11 before falling in the final two games, 1-0 and 13-6.
#15 Florida Tech (6-6): The Panthers evened up their overall record with a series win over GRU Augusta. GRU won the opener 5-3, but FIT rebounded for 12-3 and 9-5 victories in the Saturday doubleheader.
#16 Southern Arkansas (8-5): SAU lost a GAC series to Oklahoma Baptist, getting swept in the first day's doubleheader, 7-2 and 5-0, before winning the last game of the series, 10-5.
#17 Columbus State (9-2): The offense blew up for the Cougars over the weekend as they went a perfect 4-0, sweeping Young Harris in PBC play (7-1, 12-5, 13-12) before picking up a Tuesday victory against Stillman, 22-6. SP Caleb Kutsche was named the PBC Pitcher of the Week after his complete game victory against Young Harris. He struck out seven in seven innings and allowed five hits and one run.
#18 UC San Diego (10-2): UCSD lost the opener of a four game series to Concordia-Irvine (5-0), but swept the final three games (7-2, 3-2, 6-2).
#19 Catawba (5-4): The Indians won two of three against Shippensburg, winning the first two games (6-1 and 11-2) before falling in the series finale (8-5).
#20 Ashland (0-0): AU begins their season on February 27th.
#21 Lee (5-5): The Flames had been surging, but couldn't pull out a victory in Huntsville against UAH. The Chargers swept Lee, 7-2, 2-1 and 10-9, to drop the Flames down to .500 on the year.
#22 Southern Indiana (2-1): USI began their season with a series victory over Grand Valley State. The Screaming Eagles lost the opener, 4-3 in 11 innings, but the bats found a groove in the final two games, taking the series 13-5 and 16-6. Catcher Ryan Bertram was named the GLVC Player of the Week, going 6-for-8 with five runs, six RBI, two doubles and a grand slam in the two victories.
#23 Southern New Hampshire (0-0): The Penmen will begin their season on February 26th.
#24 Minnesota-Duluth (1-3): The Bulldogs' lofty pre-season expectations had a damper put on them in the opening series of the weekend, as UMD dropped three of four to Pittsburg State. They lost the season-opener (14-7) before picking up their lone win in the series in game two (18-9). The Gorillas won the final two games, however (9-8 and 7-6) to send the Bulldogs back with a 1-3 record.
#25 East Stroudsburg (4-0): The Warriors had a stellar start to their season, sweeping a four-game series from Chowan (13-7, 18-7, 7-4, 10-5) in a spectacular offensive showing. The team hit .394 on the weekend, led by Matt Walewski's 2 home runs and 9 RBI in the four games.
Outside of the current Top 25, here are some teams that are making it pretty hard to ignore not having them in the rankings anymore:
Cameron (11-0): The Aggies are off to an 11-game winning streak to begin the season after sweeping a four-game series from William Jewell over the weekend (8-5, 16-7, 11-1, 2-1). So far on the year, the pitching staff has been excellent, allowing only a .199 batting average against. Javarias Banks (2-0, 1.35 ERA, 21 K in 20 IP), Bryan Belote (2-0, 2.35 ERA, 22 K in 15.1 IP), Codey Upton (2-0, 2.45 ERA, 16 K in 14.2 IP) and Dirk Masters (1-0, 4.26 ERA, 19 K in 12.2 IP) are striking batters out at an absurd rate, leading to a TEAM K/9 of 11.3. Outrageous. The offense already has four guys in double digits for RBI and a trio of players with three home runs. They're slugging .562 as a team. Tyler McKinzie was named LSC Player of the Week after a pair of three-hit games and a trio of two-RBI games against the Cardinals.
Dixie State (10-0): The only other 10+ win team without a loss so far in Division II is the Red Storm. DSU won their only two games of the weekend, beating Minot State (11-6) and hitting a walk-off grand slam against St. Martin's (9-6) to stay undefeated. Mason Hilty (3-0, 1.76 ERA, 17 K in 15.1 IP) and Aaron Pope (2-0, 1.96 ERA, .206 BAA) are spearheading a great rotation so far, while Tanner Morache (.487 AVG, 1 HR, 13 RBI, .563 OBP) and Drew McLaughlin (.462 AVG, 3 HR, 12 RBI) are headlining an offense that features six starters batting over .300 and four batting over .410.
California State-Monterey Bay (10-1): The Otters had a chance to join Cameron in the 11-0 club, but dropped the opener of a two-game split-series against CSU-Stanislaus, 10-9. CSUMB rebounded for an 11-3 victory in the second game of the weekend, however.
USC Aiken (10-1): Yet another 10-1 squad, the Pacers had a statement week in which they went 4-0 over quality opponents. The Pacers beat Wingate (5-4) in a mid-week game before sweeping Lander (8-2, 18-17, 8-4) over the weekend. Junior Zach Moon may have the inside track in really-early Player of the Year voting, hitting .410 with 5 home runs and 17 RBI so far through 11 games. He was honored as the region Hitter of the Week after batting .571 with a 1.286 slugging percentage during the week, including hitting .727 with a 1.636 slugging percentage against Lander.
Nova Southeastern (6-5): After a lackluster start to the season, the Sharks seem to have found a spark over the weekend, absolutely obliterating Tuskegee in a three-game sweep, winning 20-0, 9-0 and 9-0. Those numbers kind of speak for themselves. Ace Alex Mateo was named the SSC Pitcher of the Week after taking a no-hitter through 6.2 innings and striking out 10 in seven innings of one-hit baseball.
Mars Hill (11-4): MHC went 3-2 last week, beating Southern Wesleyan (3-2) in a mid-week game before winning a series against Brevard (9-6, 0-10, 6-4) and then dropping a 9-3 game to North Greenville on Tuesday.
West Georgia (8-2): The Wolves went 2-0 to begin their week with a win over Young Harris (10-1) and North Alabama (13-1) before falling in the final two games to the Lions over the weekend (3-2 and 5-4) in GSC play.
Barton (8-1): Barton is currently on an 8-game winning streak after going 5-0 over the weekend. They swept a four-game series from Glenville State (17-2, 10-0, 6-2, 6-3) and then beat St. Augustine's (10-3) on Tuesday. Dylan Ward was named the Conference Carolinas Pitcher of the Week after six shutout innings against Glenville State, allowing three hits and striking out six.
Coker (11-3): The Cobras had an opportunity to prove their early-season success and they did just that, taking two of three from Erskine (10-8, 5-9, 16-9) over the weekend.
Lenoir-Rhyne (10-2): For the second straight year, the Bears are off to a hot start. L-R went 3-1 last week, winning a mid-week game over Limestone (17-5) before claiming a series victory over West Virginia Tech (3-4, 13-8, 25-2).
Newberry (11-3-1): The Wolves went 3-2 on the week, with their losses coming in the bookend games. They began the week with a 15-7 loss to Erskine, but proceeded to sweep Davis & Elkins (14-7, 10-0, 6-3) before falling to Lander (8-7) on Tuesday.
Francis Marion (10-2): FMU went 3-1 last week, falling to Belmont Abbey (4-3) before winning two of three against Armstrong State. The Patriots took the first two games (5-4 and 6-5) before falling in the final game of the series (8-3). All four games last week went to extra innings for the Patriots.
Lubbock Christian (9-1): The Chaps suffered their first loss of the season in their final game of the weekend. LCU won the first two games of the series against Angelo State (7-6 and 6-1), but fell in the series finale, 6-3.
Trevecca Nazarene (4-1): TNU is off to a good start in what they hope is another season of improvement. The Trojans won their first four games of the season with a pair of victories over Maryville (6-2 and 5-4) sandwiched around a victory over St. Joseph's (11-1). They went on to Tusculum and won the first game of a doubleheader (4-3) before falling in the nightcap (10-3) on Monday afternoon. Ethan Hurt was named the G-MAC Player of the Week after batting .500 with three doubles, a home run, four runs and four RBI.
Chico State (10-2): The Wildcats had a dominating weekend on the road, sweeping Holy Names in a trio of shutouts (3-0, 18-0, 14-0), including one-hitting Holy Names in the series finale.
North Georgia (9-2): UNG may have had the best weekend of any school, sweeping previously-undefeated Georgia Southwestern in a three-game PBC series, 6-1, 11-2 and 8-4.
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