Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Banner Weekend for the Top 25, Home Stretch on the Horizon

It was a pretty solid week for the Top 25. There were not many upsets around the nation, and the top teams showed pretty well, without much rocking of the boat. We are beginning to hit the home stretch and a couple teams are even heading in to their final opponents of the regular season this week and next week.

Disclaimer: THE RANKINGS BELOW ARE NOT OUR RANKINGS. WE DO NOT DO RANKINGS. THE RANKINGS BELOW ARE THE MOST RECENT PERFECTGAME.ORG DIVISION II TOP 25 RANKINGS, WHICH CAN BE SEEN BY CLICKING HERE.

We have one no-hitter to add to our growing list this season, and it came courtesy of Augustana over Minnesota-Duluth. Augustana, after starting the season in the PerfectGame.org Top 25, fell out pretty quickly after a 2-7 start to the year, but have since gone 22-8, mostly in NSIC play, to put themselves back in to the picture.

April 15th
Augustana (2) vs Minnesota-Duluth (0)
Jacob Blank - 7 IP, 0 H, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HBP, 106 pitches

We also had another member join the 17-K club this season. North Georgia's Dylan Peppers dominated a good Columbus State lineup in a 3-0 victory, throwing a 9-inning CGSHO, with 3 hits allowed, 3 walks allowed, and 17 strikeouts on 121 pitches.

And, in case anyone wants to see how the individual statistical leaders are looking heading in to the home stretch of play, here are some notables:

Batting Average: Chris Gonzalez (Mercyhurst) - .466, Shane Dressler (West Chester) - .465, David White (Benedict) - .461, Tyler Curtis (Lynn) - .458, David Vinsky (Northwood) - .453.

Slugging Percentage: Pablo O'Connor (Azusa Pacific) - .876, David White (Benedict) - .870, Andrew Webster (Barton) - .861, Steven Wells (Philadelphia U) - .848, Trevor Rucker (Southern Arkansas) - .836.

On-Base Percentage: Levi Zents (TAMU-Kingsville) - .569, Max Hogan (Missouri Southern) - .557, Michael Gouge (North Georgia) - .553, Chris Gonzalez (Mercyhurst) - .551, Andrew McCoy (Benedict) - .550.

Home Runs: Andrew Webster (Barton) - 20, Brandon Benson (Georgia College) - 18, Zach Piazza (Limestone) - 18, Chase Allen (Limestone) - 17, Michael Rothmund (Ill.-Springfield), 17.

RBI: Matthew Furuto (Montevallo) - 64, Brandon Benson (Georgia College) - 61, Zack Shannon (Delta State) - 61, J.D. Osborne (Tampa) - 58, Logan Porter (Dixie State) - 57.

Stolen Bases: Randy Norris (Winston-Salem) - 35, Brian Murphy (Molloy) - 31, Kendall Herron (Valdosta State) - 29, Michael Keels (St. Augustine's) - 28, Nick Gawley (Missouri Western) - 27.

ERA: Jacob Blank (Augustana) - 0.00 (43.1 IP!), Roscoe Blackburn (Malone) - 0.65 (41.1 IP), Tim Kennedy (New Haven) - 0.89 (30.1 IP), Kyle Leahy (Colorado Mesa) - 0.90 (60.0 IP), Sean Pisik (Le Moyne) - 1.09 (57.2 IP).

Wins: Austin Hutchison (Mount Olive) - 10, Dalton Algiene (Southern Arkansas) - 10, Evan Krenz (Paine) - 10.

Saves: Bryan Blanton (Catawba) - 12, Zach Mozingo (Mount Olive) - 11, Nick Voumard (Stanislaus State) - 10, Cameron Hanes (Florida Southern) - 10, Joe Hauser (Angelo State) - 10, Rusty Huber (Rogers State) - 10.

Strikeouts: Marshall Kasowski (West Texas A&M) - 118, Thomas St. Clair (Lenoir-Rhyne) - 110, Bruce Zimmermann (Mount Olive) - 106, Joseph Benitz (USC Aiken) - 100, Alex Calvert (Erskine) - 95, Connor Riley (USC Aiken) - 95.

And for a team update, here are only the top teams in each of a couple notable statistics:

Batting Average: Georgia College (.353)
Slugging Percentage: Lynn (.565)
On-Base Percentage: Benedict (.445)
Home Runs: Lynn and Limestone (75)
Scoring: Benedict (10.3 runs/game)
Stolen Bases: Seton Hill (108)
ERA: Mercyhurst (2.18)
WHIP: Chico State and Florida Southern (1.10)
Winning Percentage: Mercyhurst (.926)
Shutouts: Mount Olive (9)
Fielding Percentage: Chico State (.983)

With that statistical update, here are how the most recent PerfectGame.org Division II Top 25 fared over the last week:

1. Tampa (27-10, 13-2 SSC): The Spartans did Tampa things this past weekend with a sweep of #21 Lynn in conference play, 10-2, 4-2 and 8-3.

2. North Georgia (32-8, 16-5 PBC): UNG did a good job picking up a series victory against a talented Columbus State team on the road. The Nighthawks dropped game one, 9-3, but finished the series with 5-3 and 3-0 victories.

3. Chico State (31-7, 24-3 CCAA): Chico got back to its winning ways with a three-game sweep of Cal State-Los Angeles, 11-8, 7-1 and 8-1.

4. Emporia State (32-8, 21-5 MIAA): The Hornets have won six straight after sweeping Northeastern State on the road, 6-5, 7-0, 7-4, and then picking up a 16-6 victory over Washburn at home on Tuesday (Apr. 18).

5. Mercyhurst (27-2, 15-1 PSAC): The winning streak is now at 14 games for the Lakers, who dispatched Clarion in four conference games, 16-0, 6-2, 15-4 and 2-1. Mercyhurst leads its PSAC West division by six (!) games, and lead the overall conference race by two games.

6. USC Aiken (30-11, 14-7 PBC): The Pacers hit the 30-win plateau with a series victory over Francis Marion, winning the bookend games 13-1 and 7-5, with a 3-1 loss in the middle of the weekend.

7. Angelo State (30-8, 8-3 LSC): Angelo swept a non-conference three-game series from Texas A&M International, 6-0, 10-3 and 5-2, and then picked up a 10-1 victory over St. Mary's in non-conference action on Tuesday (Apr. 18).

8. Dixie State (29-9, 18-6 PacWest): Dixie State had this past weekend off as they get ready for a trip to Hawaii to face a pair of conference opponents.

9. Azusa Pacific (31-7, 18-6 PacWest): The Cougars dropped their first series of the year, falling in three-of-four contests against California Baptist in a split series. They dropped both games of the series at home, 6-1 and 10-3, and split on the road, with a 9-3 victory and 6-1 loss.

10. Lubbock Christian (29-10, 12-3 Heartland): The Chaps swept three games from Panhandle State in conference play, 1-0, 16-2 and 9-0.

11. UC San Diego (25-10, 17-8 CCAA): It appears UCSD may have had a bit of a hangover from a big series victory against Chico State last weekend. The Tritons dropped three-of-four to Cal Poly Pomona, falling 7-1 and 9-3 in the two games at home, and picking up a 7-4 victory on the road before dropping the finale, 2-1.

12. Colorado Mesa (31-8, 22-2 RMAC): The Mavs have the nation's longest winning streak right now with 18 straight victories, after they easily topped Regis in all four games of their conference series, 10-3, 10-5, 10-4 and 6-0.

13. Nova Southeastern (25-15, 11-7 SSC): NSU has lost four of its last five contests after dropping a series to Rollins over the weekend. The Sharks picked up an 8-5 victory in the middle game of the series, but fell 3-2 and 8-6 in the first and last games of the weekend.

14. Mount Olive (38-7, 22-2 Conf. Carolinas): The Trojans are approaching the 40-win mark very quickly. UMO has now won eight straight after sweeping three conference games from Erskine on the road, 7-4, 9-6 and 7-4, and then picking up a 3-1 victory over Chowan at home on Tuesday (Apr. 19).

15. Florida Southern (29-8, 7-5 SSC): The Mocs picked up three solid victories on the road at Lander in non-conference action, sweeping the Bearcats 9-2, 7-4 and 13-2.

16. Minnesota State (30-7, 25-3 NSIC): MSU split four games with St. Cloud State at home, dropping the first (5-2) and last (9-5) contests with 10-3 and 5-4 victories in-between, then swept Northern State in a doubleheader on Tuesday (Apr. 18), 5-1 and 13-1.

17. Southern Arkansas (33-8, 25-2 GAC): The Muleriders swept through a three-game conference series at home against Harding, 12-9, 9-6 and 7-0, then picked up an 11-3 victory at home against Texas A&M-Texarkana. They fell 8-4 in a Tuesday (Apr. 18) single game against Arkansas Tech, however.

18. West Texas A&M (27-9, 8-2 LSC): The Buffs had two of its four games against Cameron cancelled over the weekend, and split the other two games, with a 6-5 loss and 7-4 victory.

19. Delta State (33-8, 22-5 GSC): DSU pushed its winning streak in to double digits with a three-game conference sweep of a good West Florida team on the road, 7-5, 8-0 and 6-0. Delta then proceeded to dispatch of D1 Mississippi Valley State 15-4 in a game on Tuesday (Apr. 18).

20. Georgia College (28-10, 14-7 PBC): The Bobcats had upped their winning streak to nine with victories in the first two games of the weekend against Augusta, 1-0 and 12-5, but they dropped the weekend finale, 13-5.

21. Lynn (25-16, 8-10 SSC): Lynn is now on a four-game losing streak after being swept over the weekend by #1 Tampa, 10-2, 4-2 and 8-3.

22. Central Missouri (26-12, 17-9 MIAA): The Mules took a series victory from Missouri Southern over the weekend, with 11-8 and 12-2 victories in the first two games before a 9-7 loss in the finale. UCM then picked up a single conference victory on Tuesday (Apr. 18) against SW Baptist, 15-5.

23. Wayne State (Mich.) (23-12, 13-5 GLIAC): Wayne State had its eight-game winning streak snapped in the opening game of its series against Northwood in our D2 Diamond Series of the Week, and it didn't get much better from there. The Warriors dropped three-of-four to the Timberwolves as they were surpassed in the GLIAC standings. WSU fell in the first two contests, 8-3 and 15-0, picked up a 3-1 victory in game three, and then lost the finale in a 20-11 slugfest.

24. Belmont Abbey (27-15, 16-8 Conf. Carolinas): Abbey had the weekend off, but did pick up a single game victory over Lander at home on Tuesday (Apr. 18), 7-6.

25. West Chester (23-6, 13-3 PSAC): The Golden Rams have now won eight straight games and are trying to chase down Mercyhurst in the overall PSAC standings. WCU swept Kutztown in a four-game series over the weekend, 9-3, 8-2, 5-0 and 10-5, then picked up a victory over USciences, 8-5, on Tuesday (Apr. 18).

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