Three conferences have finished up play and two will begin its conference tournament this week, while others are finishing up this weekend, and the rest of the nation finishes up next weekend. We are only three weekends away from conference tournament weekend and less than a month away from regional tournaments! Get excited, people!
Disclaimer: THE RANKINGS BELOW ARE NOT OUR RANKINGS. WE DO NOT DO RANKINGS. THESE RANKINGS ARE FROM THE MOST RECENT PERFECTGAME.ORG DIVISION II TOP 25 RANKINGS, WHICH CAN BE SEEN BY CLICKING HERE. Thank you!
For the first time in a while, we didn't have any no-hitters to speak of this past week! It was a pretty uneventful week, for the most part. Our highlighted series' of the week did not disappoint, and we have only two weekends remaining in regular season play for the country. The Conference Carolinas and South Atlantic Conference are actually beginning their conference tournament this weekend! As we hit the home stretch, let's take a look at how the most recent PerfectGame.org Division II Top 25 fared this past weekend:
1. Tampa (29-11, 15-3 SSC): Tampa faced some resistance over the weekend. The Spartans dropped game one to #13 Florida Southern, 10-7, but rebounded for 6-4 and 14-12 victories in games two and three to take the victory in our D2 Diamond Series of the Week. Tampa leads the SSC by four games with only six conference games left to play, so they can wrap the title up and earn a regional nod this weekend.
2. North Georgia (36-8, 19-5 PBC): The Nighthawks took home the regular season PBC crown after a three-game sweep of Flagler, 10-8, 10-4, 5-2, and will finish up with five non-conference games this week.
3. Chico State (34-7, 27-3 CCAA): Chico swept its three-game series at home against Cal State-San Bernardino, 7-4, 6-2 and 9-4, and are dominating the CCAA. The Wildcats have a nine (!) game lead in the CCAA North, and a 6.5-game lead on the rest of the conference with only eight games to play. They, too, can wrap up the regular season title this weekend.
4. Emporia State (34-9, 23-6 MIAA): The Hornets took two-of-three from second-place Lindenwood, winning 7-3 and 10-8 before dropping the finale 14-12, and lead the MIAA by 2.5 games with seven to play, so there's plenty of time yet.
5. Mercyhurst (31-3, 18-2 PSAC): The Lakers' winning streak reached 18 games after they won the first three games of their series against Gannon, 6-5, 5-0 and 10-4, but had that streak snapped with a 4-0 loss in the finale. There's eight games to play on the conference schedule, but Mercyhurst has a six-game lead in the PSAC West and a two-game lead on second-place West Chester in the full conference standings.
6. USC Aiken (34-11, 17-7 PBC): The Pacers did what they needed to do to have a chance at the PBC crown, sweeping Montevallo 22-5, 9-7 and 12-11, but they didn't get any help from UNG and finish as the runners-up in the PBC standings, two games behind.
7. Angelo State (32-10, 10-5 LSC): Angelo split a four-game series with Eastern New Mexico on the road, winning the middle two games 5-2 and 3-2, while dropping the first and last games, 7-2 and 11-7, respectively. The Rams are third in the LSC, 3.5 games behind TAMU-Kingsville, with eight games to play.
8. Dixie State (31-10-1, 20-7-1 PacWest): Dixie picked up the rare 2-1-1 series victory over Hawaii Pacific on the road over the weekend, winning game one 11-4, dropping game two 2-1, winning game three 5-2, and tying in the series finale, 8-8, due to a travel curfew. The Trailblazers are essentially tied for the PacWest lead, however.
9. Lubbock Christian (32-10, 15-3 Heartland): The Chaps picked up a three-game sweep of Newman over the weekend, 6-0, 2-0 and 4-2, and have a two-game lead with six to play, but they take on the second-place squad in the conference this weekend.
10. Colorado Mesa (34-8, 26-2 RMAC): CMU has extended its D2-long winning streak with a four-game sweep of Adams State, 4-0, 10-1, 8-1 and 16-5, and are now winners of 21 straight. There's eight games to play in the RMAC schedule, but the Mavericks lead the field by 10 (!!!) games and have already wrapped up the regular season title.
11. Mount Olive (42-7, 25-2 Conf. Carolinas): The Trojans are on a 12-game winning streak and ended their regular season with a three-game sweep of Limestone, 7-1, 8-3 and 4-3. UMO claimed the Conference Carolinas regular season crown by five games, and will begin conference tournament play *this week*, beginning with a first-round game against Pfeiffer on Thursday (Apr. 27).
12. Azusa Pacific (34-8, 21-7 PacWest): The PacWest-leading Cougars picked up a series victory on the road at Point Loma, with 2-0, 9-2 and 11-4 victories before dropping the finale 6-2. They have the slimmest of leads in the conference on Dixie State, but they face fourth-place Concordia and the aforementioned Dixie State to finish out the season.
13. Florida Southern (30-10, 8-7 SSC): The Mocs picked up a victory in the series-opener against Tampa, 10-7, but fell in the final two games, 6-4 and 14-12, in our D2 Diamond Series of the Week.
14. UC San Diego (28-11, 20-9 CCAA): UCSD picked up a 3-1 series victory against Cal State-Dominguez Hills, dropping the opener 12-6 before rolling to 20-4, 10-8 and 6-5 victories to finish out the weekend. The Tritons lead the CCAA South by only a half-game over Cal Poly Pomona with eight to play.
15. Southern Arkansas (34-10, 26-4 GAC): The Muleriders took a bit of a hit over the weekend, winning only one of three games against Arkansas Tech, a team right on its tail in the GAC standings. SAU dropped the first two games, 4-0 and 2-1, before salvaging a 12-4 win in the finale. However, it wasn't enough of a hindrance, as the Muleriders have already captured the regular season crown, leading by four games with only three to play.
16. Delta State (35-10, 23-7 GSC): The Statesmen entered the weekend with a 12-game winning streak, and extended that to 13 with a 9-1 series-opening win over Valdosta State, but they still left the weekend with a series loss as Valdosta came back for 11-8 and 4-3 wins in the final two contests. Delta State still leads the GSC by two games with only three to play.
17. Nova Southeastern (28-15, 11-7 SSC): NSU got back to its winning ways with a three-game sweep of Embry-Riddle, 20-6, 2-1 and 17-4. Nova is second in the SSC, four games behind Tampa, but there are only six games to play in the conference schedule and it is going to be a tall task to ask Tampa to drop that many games in a short period of time.
18. West Texas A&M (29-11, 10-4 LSC): WTAM split a four-game series at home against Tarleton State, falling in the first two contests 4-2 and 3-0, but won the final two games, 4-3 and 6-1. The final two weekends of LSC play are going to be pretty fun, as the top three teams will all do battle against each other. The Buffs trail TAMU-Kingsville by three games with eight to play.
19. Minnesota State (34-7, 29-3 NSIC): The Mavericks sailed through a four-game series against Bemidji State on the road, sweeping the Beavers 2-1, 11-6, 7-6 and 4-3. There's eight games left on the conference schedule, and MSU holds a four-game lead over second-place Augustana in the NSIC.
20. Georgia College (30-11, 16-8 PBC): The Bobcats ended conference play with a series victory against Georgia Southwestern. They shockingly dropped game one, 7-5, but came back for huge 23-6 and 25-10 victories in the Saturday doubleheader. They'll finish up their regular season this week.
21. West Chester (26-7, 16-4 PSAC): WCU took three-of-four from Bloomsburg, winning the final trio of games on the weekend, 5-4, 4-0 and 10-9 after dropping the first game 4-3. The Golden Rams lead the PSAC East by three games with eight to play.
22. Northwood (33-9, 20-4 GLIAC): The Timberwolves put a big dent in the climb to wrap up their first GLIAC title in school history after a strong showing this past weekend. NU entered the weekend tied atop the conference with Walsh, but ended the weekend by grinding out four straight victories over that same Walsh team, 1-0, 8-6, 3-2 and 5-4, and they now lead the GLIAC by three games with eight to play.
23. Central Missouri (30-12, 21-9 MIAA): UCM is trying to chase down Emporia State, and the school did its part this past weekend by sweeping Northeastern State, 7-2, 15-3 and 9-8, and also picked up a 9-7 victory over SW Baptist on Tuesday (Apr. 25). With six games to play, UCM trails Emporia by 2.5 games, but they have at least given themselves a chance.
24. Belmont Abbey (30-15, 19-8 Conf. Carolinas): The Crusaders ended the conference season with a three-game sweep of Erskine, 7-1, 6-2 and 4-2, and have a single game left on the schedule this week to wrap up the regular season.
25. Lynn (26-18, 9-12 SSC): I gotta think it was probably the last straw for Lynn in the PerfectGame.org Division II Top 25, as the Fighting Knights dropped two-of-three at home to Eckerd over the weekend. Lynn dropped the first two games, 13-10 and 5-4, before picking up a victory in the finale, 10-5.
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