It was a fairly good weekend for the reigning PerfectGame.org Top 25, and inside we recap those weekends for you and give you a list of teams that may be sneaking in to the rankings this week when they are released. Additionally, we got our first weekly statistics update on the NCAA.com website this week! We'll look at some incredible numbers that have already been put up.
First up is our statistics round-up. The NCAA had not released an update for Division II until this past Monday (Feb. 27), so now we can poke around with some fun numbers and give you a glimpse in to what has happened so far this season.
First off, I like to always check on the list of no-hitters. We've already had three in Division II this season! All of them seven inning contests listed below:
Feb. 11 - Shorter over Brevard, 7-1
Jonathan Pintaro: 6 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 10 K
Jerry Liang: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
Feb. 18 - Lincoln (Pa.) over Urbana, 7-0
Terence Berry: 5 IP, 0 H, 7 BB, 9 K
Marcos Castillo: 2 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 2 K
Feb. 25 - Hawaii Pacific over Hawaii-Hilo, 7-0
Matthew Gunter: 7 IP, 0 H, 4 BB, 6 K
Next, I like to look at some team statistics just to get a sense of who is raking, who is dealing, and who is running over everyone.
The top leaders in batting average so far through at least five games played are West Texas A&M (.397), Armstrong State (.396), Barton (.386), Eastern New Mexico (.377), and Emporia State (.373). The on-base percentage ranks look much the same, with Eastern New Mexico (.481), West Texas A&M (.477), Armstrong State (.475), and Pitt-Johnstown (.467) leading the way. When it comes to actually pushing runs across the plate, it is Eastern New Mexico (12.9 R/gm), West Texas A&M (12.8 R/gm), Armstrong State (12.4 R/gm), Emporia State (12.2 R/gm), and Barton (11.1 R/gm). When it comes to thieves on the base paths, Morehouse (2.93), Cal State East Bay (2.88), Southern New Hampshire (2.80), Emporia State (2.73) and Southern Connecticut State (2.67) are the top teams.
On the mound with at least five games played, the team ERA leaders are Sonoma State (1.05), Texas A&M-Kingsville (1.77), West Texas A&M (1.78), Le Moyne (2.09) and Central Missouri (2.14), followed by this group for WHIP: Sonoma State (0.95), Southern New Hampshire (0.98), Texas A&M-Kingsville (1.02), Hawaii Pacific (1.03), and Chico State (1.04).
Catawba and Emporia State have both tallied games with seven home runs, while Barton (34 runs) and Lenoir-Rhyne (32) are the only two teams to clear the 30-run mark so far this year. Paine and St. Augustine's have both stolen 11 bases in a contest, and West Texas A&M (22), Erskine (20) and Armstrong State (20) have all fanned at least 20 in a game.
You may have seen me post it on Twitter already, but it seems like offense is up in a big way in the early season. 19 times, a team has scored 22 runs or more already.
Individually, Colton Pogue (Pittsburg State) and Cody Bower (Cameron) have tallied six-hit games, Ryan Addington (Carson-Newman) had a 10-RBI performance, while Thomas St. Clair (Lenoir-Rhyne) and Joseph Mauldin (Tuskegee) both struck out 17 in a game.
On the season, using players who have played at least five games, David Vinsky of Northwood (.632), Tyler Hill of Fairmont State (.600), and Mike McNichol of Eastern New Mexico (.583) lead the way in batting average, while Andrew Webster of Barton (12) and Zach Piazza of Limestone (10) lead the nation in home runs, both having played 17 games each. For knocking in runs, Webster stands alone, having driven in 36 runs already through 17 games. Matthew Furuto of Montevallo (28) and Nolen Milton of Union (26) round out the top three, both in 15 games played.
Thomas St. Clair of Lenoir-Rhyne is the only five-game winner in D-II so far, while Nick Voumard (Stanislaus State), Gabriel Gentner (Cal State-LA), Kit Larson (Lee) and Marcus McKinney (Washburn) all have five saves already.
Finally, let's get in to the weekend recap. Below are the Top 25 rankings from last week's PerfectGame.org Top 25, along with their weekend results.
1. Tampa (9-3, 2-1 SSC): Tampa should be able to hold the top spot in this week's rankings after fending off a scrappy Barry team over the weekend. The Spartans needed a comeback in the rubber game of the series after Barry won the initial contest 9-8. Tampa came back for 15-1 and 7-6 victories to take the weekend series.
2. Nova Southeastern (11-2, 3-0 SSC): Fellow SSC foe Nova Southeastern is hot on the tail of Tampa after beginning conference play with a sweep, downing Eckerd 9-3, 14-4 and 8-2 over the weekend.
3. USC Aiken (12-2, 3-0 PBC): The Pacers had a fairly uneventful weekend, beginning Peach Belt Conference play with a shellacking of Young Harris, 3-2, 15-5 and 20-0.
4. West Florida (8-6, 4-2 GSC): UWF is still hanging around, but took a series loss on the road at Valdosta State over the weekend. The Argos were swept in a doubleheader, 6-5 and 8-1, but picked up a 12-8 victory to end the series.
5. Colorado Mesa (7-5): The Mavericks have not yet begun RMAC play, but they did finish non-conference play with a four-game split at home against California Baptist. The Lancers won the first two games, 7-3 and 8-5, before CMU was able to come back and win 6-2 and 10-1 to even up the weekend against a very tough opponent.
6. Dixie State (11-3): Dixie may have gotten a leg up on the team just above them in these rankings. The Mavericks struggled with Montana State-Billings earlier this year, but the Trailblazers just rolled to a three-game sweep over the same team, 6-0, 12-8 and 5-0 over the weekend.
7. Minnesota State (1-0): MSU finally hit the field! The Mavericks played Minnesota-Crookston at U.S. Bank Stadium and came away with an 8-2 victory to begin the year.
8. North Georgia (10-3): North Georgia came out the big winners of their high-level tournament they hosted over the weekend. The Nighthawks went 3-0, including a 12-6 victory over #25 Quincy and a 6-1 win over #20 Florida Tech. They finished the weekend with a 19-4 win over Albany State.
9. Emporia State (10-2, 3-0 MIAA): Emporia began conference play with an impressive showing against Pittsburg State, sweeping the Gorillas 11-0, 13-8 and 8-6.
10. Point Loma (6-3): PLNU had this past weekend off as they get set to begin conference play against Hawaii Pacific this weekend.
11. Angelo State (9-1): Angelo also had the weekend off, as they prepare for Eastern New Mexico this weekend.
12. Lubbock Christian (10-6): LCU struggled a little bit to begin the weekend, falling to Colorado State-Pueblo, 4-3 and 12-5 to begin the series, but came away with 7-3 and 11-1 victories to split the weekend.
13. Southern Indiana (2-3): The Screaming Eagles split their two games at their own tournament, dropping a 6-5 game to #19 Wayne State (Mich.) and picking up an 8-2 victory over Notre Dame (Ohio).
14. Franklin Pierce (2-3): The Ravens went 48-9 last season, including a 48-7 record before heading to the D-II Finals. FPU seems to be struggling to replace their bevy of talent so far, as they were under .500 at their opening weekend tournament in South Carolina. FPU alternated losses and wins against Felician (2-0 L), Queens (6-5 W and 5-3 L), Wilmington (7-2 W) and LIU Post (6-2 L).
15. Cal Poly Pomona (8-7, 4-0 CCAA): CPP seems to finally be finding their footing, as they swept Cal State-Dominguez Hills to begin CCAA play, 16-4, 8-3, 7-4 and 5-4.
16. Mercyhurst (5-1): The Lakeshow swept Post University in North Carolina, 4-1, 9-8 and 14-2.
17. Azusa Pacific (10-1): APU was off the field this past weekend with a bye week, and they will head to Arizona this weekend for three games in Tucson.
18. Florida Southern (8-6, 0-3 SSC): The Mocs, after riding a five-game winning streak, got swept by Lynn, 14-8, 14-5 and 10-6, to begin conference play over the weekend, and then wore a 9-4 loss against #23 Flagler in a single game on Tuesday (Feb. 28) at home.
19. Wayne State (Mich.) (4-2): The Warriors picked up a solid 6-5 victory over #13 Southern Indiana on the road, then a 9-4 victory over St. Joseph's to continue the USI Tournament, but fell to Indianapolis, 5-0, to end the weekend.
20. Florida Tech (9-5): Well, in a four-team round-robin with three ranked teams, someone has to wear the losses. Unfortunately, that was Florida Tech down at North Georgia. The Panthers beat Albany Staet, 10-2, to open the tournament, but fell 6-1 to #8 North Georgia and 8-5 to #25 Quincy.
21. Millersville (8-3): The Marauders had a solid weekend, taking three-of-four from Mars Hill on the road. The 'Ville split day one with a 15-2 win and 6-5 loss, then swept the second day's doubleheader, 8-5 and 13-6.
22. Belmont Abbey (10-8, 4-2 Conference Carolinas): Abbey took two-of-three from King in conference play over the weekend, with 16-5 and 9-3 victories before taking a 7-4 loss in the Saturday (Feb. 25) nightcap. They proceeded to pick up a 9-4 win on the road at Lander on Tuesday (Feb. 28) in non-conference play.
23. Flagler (13-3, 3-0 PBC): Flagler is continuing to roll. The Saints swept Georgia College, 4-2, 11-9 (10 inn.) and 6-5 to open Peach Belt Conference play, and then took down a very good #18 Florida Southern team on Tuesday (Feb. 28), 9-4.
24. Henderson State (9-4, 4-2 GAC): The Reddies won a weekend series on the road against Oklahoma Baptist, with 8-3 and 7-6 victories sandwiched around a 6-0 loss.
25. Quincy (5-2): Quincy showed well at the top tournament in the country over the weekend, dropping a 12-6 game to hosts and #8 North Georgia, but picked up a 12-0 victory over Albany State and an 8-5 win over #20 Florida Tech.
For those who are not yet finding themselves in the PerfectGame.org Top 25 rankings above, here is a list of potential teams that may break that barrier sooner or later, in order of total wins so far this season:
Union (14-1), Barton (14-3), Francis Marion (13-2), Lenoir-Rhyne (13-3), UNC Pembroke (12-2), UC San Diego (12-2), Armstrong State (12-3), Cameron (11-3), Hawaii Pacific (11-3), Chico State (11-4), Valdosta State (11-4), Lee (11-4), Eastern New Mexico (10-1), Tarleton State (10-2), Central Missouri (10-2), Delta State (10-3), Catawba (10-3), Mount Olive (10-4), Lynn (10-4), West Texas A&M (9-1), Rollins (9-3), Texas A&M-Kingsville (8-0), Central Oklahoma (7-1), Southwest Baptiat (7-1), Rockhurst (6-0), St. Joseph's (6-1) and Sonoma State (6-1).
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