It was a banner weekend for the most recent top 25, comparatively, to most weeks. Five of the top nine, six of the top 12, and seven of the top 14 teams in last week's PerfectGame.org Division II Top 25 swept their opponents this past weekend. Could it have been the beginning of taking over some conference races for some of the nation's top teams? Additionally, we had a very competitive D2 Diamond Series of the Week that might have shown that the West region is the most competitive we have right now.
Disclaimer: THE RANKINGS BELOW ARE NOT OURS. WE DO NOT DO RANKINGS. THEY ARE THE MOST RECENT SET OF PERFECTGAME.ORG'S DIVISION II TOP 25 RANKINGS, WHICH CAN BE SEEN BY CLICKING HERE. THANK YOU.
We had one more no-hitter to add to the growing list of them in 2017, as Alabama-Huntsville threw up a no-no at home against Valdosta State:
April 8th
Alabama-Huntsville (3) vs Valdosta State (0)
Will Myers - 7 IP, 0 H, 5 BB, 6 K, 2 HBP, 103 pitches
Perhaps more impressively, we had a pair of outstanding single-game performances. Minnesota State's Josh Wenzel became the first D-II player this year to hit four homers in a single game. In a 13-1 win over Minot State, Wenzel went 4-for-5 with four runs and eight RBI. He had a pair of two-run bombs, a solo shot, and a three-run homer.
Mount Olive's Bruce Zimmerman tied for the D-II single-game high in strikeouts, fanning 17 Southern Wesleyan batters in a 5-2 victory over the weekend. Zimmerman threw 7 innings, allowing six hits and two runs with two walks, but fanned 17. Only four outs were made by ways other than strikeout during his outing. Four players have now struck out 17 in a game this year.
Here are how last week's PerfectGame.org Top 25 fared over the past weekend:
1. Tampa (24-10, 10-2 SSC): Could the run at #1 be over for the Spartans? Tampa ran in to a good Tusculum team on the road this past weekend and dropped two-of-three, their first series loss of the season. Tusculum won 6-3 and 3-2 before Tampa picked up a 7-4 victory in the series finale.
2. North Georgia (29-7, 14-4 PBC): UNG clobbered Young Harris in a trio of PBC games over the weekend, sweeping YHC 13-1, 13-2 and 10-0 in what turned out to be little more than a bunch of scrimmages.
3. Chico State (28-7, 21-3 CCAA): Chico finally faced some resistance in conference play during our D2 Diamond Series of the Week. The Wildcats took on #16 UC San Diego, and dropped two-of-three to the Tritons. Chico won the opener, 13-5, but fell 7-0 and 6-4 in the final two contests of the weekend. They still lead the CCAA North and CCAA overall by about a billion games.
4. Angelo State (26-8, 8-3 LSC): Angelo's series with TAMU-Kingsville turned out to be a weekend of very good baseball on both sides, and it resulted in a split. Angelo dropped game one 3-2 and game three 7-3, but earned 13-3 and 9-4 victories in games two and four, respectively.
5. Emporia State (28-8, 17-5 MIAA): The Hornets still have 15 MIAA games to play, but they did great work over the weekend in taking a series from one of the top contenders, #18 Central Missouri. Emporia picked up a pair of walk-off 9-8 victories in games one and three, while UCM won 12-1 in the middle contest of the weekend. The Hornets also picked up a conference victory on Tuesday (Apr. 11) against Washburn, 9-2. ESU leads the conference by three games.
6. USC Aiken (28-10, 12-6 PBC): The Pacers were undefeated on the past week, going 4-0, including a three-game sweep of Augusta in conference play, 5-2, 18-1 and 6-1, followed by a 5-3 victory over Newberry on Tuesday (Apr. 11).
7. Mercyhurst (23-2, 11-1 PSAC): Mercyhurst has now won 10 straight and appear to be rolling after sweeping a four-game conference series from Slippery Rock, 3-2, 4-3, 4-0 and 3-0, as well as picking up an 8-3 victory over Notre Dame College on Tuesday (Apr. 11).
8. Dixie State (29-9, 18-6 PacWest): The Trailblazers rolled through a four-game sweep of Academy of Art, 12-3, 11-0, 5-0 and 6-2 to right their PacWest ship.
9. Azusa Pacific (30-4, 17-3 PacWest): APU still sits atop the PacWest standings after sweeping four games from Hawaii Pacific at home over the weekend, 3-2, 9-5, 5-0 and 10-0.
10. Nova Southeastern (24-13, 10-5 SSC): The Sharks picked up victories in the first two games of the weekend against Palm Beach Atlantic at home, 4-0 and 12-6, but fell in the third game at home, 9-4, and then got toppled on the road at PBA, 4-3, on Tuesday (Apr. 11).
11. Florida Southern (26-8, 7-5 SSC): FSC's 17-game winning streak fell in the opening game of its weekend series against Rollins, 11-9, before the Mocs took game two 12-1. However, Rollins took the rubber match, 9-1, to claim the series victory.
12. Colorado Mesa (26-8, 18-2 RMAC): The Mavericks now have one of the longest winning streaks in D-II currently, as they are now riding a 13-game streak after sweeping four conference games at home. CMU took down Colorado Mines 4-1, then took a pair of games from Colorado Christian 10-9 and 12-10, before ending the weekend with a 3-0 win over Colorado Mines.
13. Lubbock Christian (26-10, 9-3 Heartland): It was a tale of two days for the Chaps at home against St. Edward's. The Chaps swept the doubleheader to begin the weekend, 11-7 and 11-6, but took a 23-9 loss on the chin in the series finale.
14. Mount Olive (34-7, 19-2 Conf. Carolinas): The Trojans now lead the Conference Carolinas by five games with only six conference games left to play on their schedule. UMO dispatched Southern Wesleyan in three games, 5-2, 9-0 and 10-4, then picked up a 6-2 victory at home against Catawba on Tuesday (Apr. 11).
15. West Texas A&M (26-8, 7-1 LSC): It was a non-conference weekend for the Buffs, but they dropped two-of-three at home to Arkansas-Fort Smith. WTAM took the opening game, 5-1, before UAFS captured the final two games, 5-4 and 11-4.
16. UC San Diego (24-7, 16-5 CCAA): The Tritons were one of the big winners of the weekend, taking two-of-three from #3 Chico State in our D2 Diamond Series of the Week. UCSD dropped game one, 13-5, but won 7-0 and 6-4 to finish out the weekend and stake their claim as a real problem for Chico going forward.
17. Minnesota State (26-5, 21-1 NSIC): MSU had its winning streak ended at 17 games as well, dropping the opening game of the weekend to Minot State, 10-5, but the Mavericks rebounded nicely, winning five straight conference games after that. MSU finished off Minot State with 19-1, 13-1 and 5-2 victories, and then went home for a doubleheader against Sioux Falls, where they picked up 2-1 and 4-0 victories. They lead the NSIC by five games.
18. Central Missouri (23-11, 14-8 MIAA): The Mules' hopes of catching #5 Emporia State in the MIAA took a bit of a hit over the weekend, as UCM dropped two-of-three to Emporia on the road. The Mules took game two of the series, 12-1, but suffered a pair of 9-8 walk-off losses in games one and three. UCM picked up a 13-1 conference win over SW Baptist on Tuesday (Apr. 11).
19. Southern Arkansas (29-7, 22-2 GAC): SAU leads the GAC by three games after sweeping three games from conference foe Henderson State, 11-7, 7-6 and 7-4.
20. Delta State (29-8, 19-5 GSC): Delta State leads the GSC by 3.5 games, and they just finished a three-game sweep of Shorter, 5-4, 6-5 and 12-2. The Statesmen are riding a seven-game winning streak.
21. Point Loma (20-12, 12-8 PacWest): The Sea Lions split a four-game conference series with Concordia, dropping the opener (8-6) and finale (11-5), but picked up two victories in-between, 5-1 and 4-2.
22. Lynn (25-12, 8-7 SSC): The Fighting Knights took two-of-three on the road at Saint Leo, dropping the opener 5-2 before tallying 13-7 and 12-10 victories to finish off the weekend.
23. Millersville (21-11, 5-7 PSAC): It was a tough weekend for the Marauders, as they dropped three-of-four against West Chester over the weekend, falling 11-6, 6-2 and 16-4, with the lone win coming in game two, 4-2. They did, however, pick up a doubleheader sweep of USciences on Tuesday (Apr. 11), 8-6 and 13-3.
24. Belmont Abbey (26-15, 16-8 Conf. Carolinas): The Crusaders are not going to catch UMO in the conference standings with only three conference contests left on their schedule, but they did take two-of-three from Limestone (12-2 W, 5-3 L, 17-5 W) and picked up a 7-3 win over Armstrong State on Tuesday (Apr. 11).
25. Georgia College (26-9, 12-6 PBC): The Bobcats had a great showing in their first weekend in the rankings, sweeping Lander in conference play, 8-7, 9-5 and 15-2, before picking up a 10-5 victory on Tuesday (Apr. 11) against Albany State.
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