It looks like the top teams will remain much the same this week after a bevy of dominating, high-scoring, great-pitched performances from some of the best teams in the nation. St. Cloud State stands alone as the final undefeated team in Division II baseball as they push their record to 15-0, and Maryville's Robbie Gordon threw D-II's first perfect game of the year in a 2-0 victory over Hillsdale. Gordon struck out nine in the contest, and accomplished the feat for the first time in Maryville program history.
Here is how last week's PerfectGame.org Top 25 in Division II fared, as well as a few teams at the bottom who may be on the verge of breaking in to the list themselves.
#1 St. Cloud State (15-0): The Huskies are continuing to show why they are the top team in the land. They are the last remaining undefeated in Division II baseball as they added five more wins to their record over the last week. SCSU beat Valley City State (5-1), Dickinson State (19-7 and 10-3), Mount Marty (18-3) and Northern State (11-1) to cap off their Arizona spring trip. They haven't faced much resistance so far this year in terms of their schedule since they left Minute Maid Stadium, but that will end soon.
#2 Franklin Pierce (13-2): The Ravens were unable to keep up with SCSU in terms of hanging with the undefeateds, but FPU was still able to go 4-2 over the weekend. They took three of four in a weekend series at Felician before splitting a pair of single games on Monday (7-3 W) and Tuesday (7-5 L) at Mount Olive.
#3 Millersville (15-1): The Marauders have run their winning streak to 14 straight games, having won their first five games on their home field. They swept a doubleheader from Saint Rose last week (3-2 and 5-3), beat Le Moyne (5-3) and then swept a doubleheader from Post (11-2 and 5-0), all five games taking place between Thursday and Saturday. SS Tyler Orris was named the PSAC East Athlete of the Week with contributions on both offense and defense for the 'Ville.
#4 Tampa (20-1): Not to be outdone, the top team in the country right now may very well be the defending champion Spartans. Winners of 12 in a row, UT swept a three-game conference series at Saint Leo (9-6, 3-2 and 11-9) and then demolished Bridgeport in a 17-4 victory on Monday.
#5 Quincy (10-3): The Hawks went 2-2 last week, picking up victories against Saginaw Valley State (5-1) and NW Missouri State (14-3). However, we may have uncovered another regional contender to Quincy's favorite status, as their two losses came at the hands of Indianapolis, who took a pair of games from the Hawks, 6-1 and 13-12.
#6 Columbus State (20-4): CSU swept a three-game PBC series from Georgia College at home (14-13, 18-17 and 9-0) to push their winning streak to eight straight. Mike McClellan was named the PBC Player of the Week after hitting .444 with three home runs, 10 RBI and eight runs scored in four games last week.
#7 Colorado Mesa (17-3): Another winning streak for another top team, as the Mavericks are now at nine straight after going 5-0 last week. They swept a four-game RMAC series from Metro State (3-2, 8-2, 4-1 and 6-4) before beating Northern Colorado in a single game on Tuesday (7-4). Freshman JR McDermott was named the RMAC Pitcher of the Week after setting a conference and school record with 19 (!) strikeouts in the 3-2 victory over Metro State.
#8 Missouri Southern (13-4): The Lions took the series victory in our Marquee Match-Up of the Week, taking two-of-three at home from Emporia State. MSSU lost the series opener 3-2, but claimed 5-0 and 5-3 victories in the final two games of the weekend. Payton Walker was masterful for the Lions in the shutout victory, throwing a complete game, five-hit shutout with seven strikeouts en route to being named MIAA Pitcher of the Week.
#9 St. Edward's (17-7): The Hilltoppers took a bit of a surprising series loss on the road at Oklahoma Christian, getting swept in the weekend doubleheader 6-1 and 2-1 before picking up a 10-5 victory in the single Monday game. Romeo Cortina was named the Heartland Co-Hitter of the Week after hitting FOUR home runs in the 10-5 victory over Oklahoma Christian, the most for any player in a single game across all NCAA levels so far this year.
#10 West Florida (14-9): The Argos began their week with a 6-5 victory over Spring Hill, then earned a huge GSC series victory by taking two-of-three on the road at Alabama-Huntsville. UWF lost the opener, 4-2, but took the final two games, 4-3 and 13-6. On Tuesday, they ran in to up-and-coming Embry-Riddle and took a 4-1 loss from the Eagles.
#11 Florida Tech (15-9): The Panthers beat Winona State (10-2) and Bloomfield (12-1) in mid-week games last week, but got swept on the road at Florida Southern in SSC play over the weekend, 12-9, 5-3 and 5-4.
#12 California Baptist (17-5): The Lancers demolished Holy Names in all four games of a PacWest series over the weekend, sweeping them by scores of 19-4, 19-2, 10-0 and 13-5. Stephen Lohr was named the PacWest Player of the Week for the second straight week after he hit .579 with eight RBI and eight runs scored over the weekend sweep.
#13 UC San Diego (17-7): The Tritons, somewhat surprisingly, took a series loss against CSU-Dominguez Hills, dropping three-of-four to the Toros over the weekend. They began the weekend with 9-2 and 9-8 losses before picking up a 14-4 victory on the road. They ended the series with a 2-0 loss in the final contest.
#14 Minnesota State (8-5): The Mavs had their two games of the weekend against Wisconsin-Parkside cancelled.
#15 Mercyhurst (10-5): Yet another surprising result, the Lakers dropped two-of-three to Notre Dame College over the weekend. Hurst took the series opener 9-0 behind another stellar Colin McKee start (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 11 K), but were swept in the Saturday doubleheader, 7-3 and 1-0. McKee was named the PSAC West Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season.
#16 West Alabama (20-4): One of the longest winning streaks in Division II right now resides with UWA, who have won 13 straight after going 4-0 since last week. They swept a three-game GSC series from Christian Brothers (6-2, 7-4 and 11-2), then picked up an 11-1 Tuesday victory over Miles.
#17 East Stroudsburg (15-2): After losing their first two games of the season, the Warriors got back on the horse in a big way, sweeping a four-game series from Indiana (Pa.), 27-5, 2-1, 13-6 and 3-2. They picked up a 9-1 Tuesday victory over USciences to go 5-0 for the week.
#18 Cal Poly Pomona (15-6): The Broncos swept their first CCAA series of the year with a four-game sweep of CSU-San Marcos, 17-11, 6-2, 6-5 and 4-0. In the series finale, Michael Koval threw a five-hit shutout with six strikeouts.
#19 Southern New Hampshire (13-1): The Penmen fell from the graces of the undefeateds on Tuesday, but still went 4-1 over the weekend. SNHU had the bats rolling on Saturday and Sunday, beating Molloy (19-6) before sweeping a doubleheader from Caldwell (20-0 and 15-0). On Monday, they beat Adelphi 5-2 to move to 13-0 before taking their first loss of the season with a 10-5 loss on the road at Nova Southeastern on Tuesday.
#20 Dixie State (17-5): The Red Storm rolled Academy of Art in four PacWest games over Monday and Tuesday. DSU won Monday's doubleheader, 6-3 and 5-1, before sweeping Tuesday by scores of 13-2 and 8-5.
#21 Southern Indiana (11-4): The Screaming Eagles swept regional foe Drury in a three-game weekend series, 2-0, 9-3 and 4-0.
#22 Southern Arkansas (14-8): The Muleriders took two-of-three in a GAC weekend series against NW Oklahoma State. They took the series opener, 13-1, before falling in game two, 4-0. They finished the weekend with a 10-0 victory in the finale, as SAU's Hunter Mayo struck out 13 and allowed only three hits in seven innings of work en route to being named GAC Co-Pitcher of the Week.
#23 Ashland (7-6): AU just can't seem to put that winning streak together they need to prove themselves as the GLIAC favorites. The Eagles ended their Florida spring trip with a split of a doubleheader with Alderson-Broaddus (5-2 W, 3-2 L), a win against Slippery Rock (16-7) and a loss to Wayne State (Mich.) (7-0).
#24 Alabama-Huntsville (17-7): As mentioned earlier, the Chargers dropped two-of-three to West Florida in a GSC series at home, winning the opener 4-2 before falling 4-3 and 13-6 in the final two games of the weekend.
#25 USC Aiken (19-5): The Pacers are continuing to pick up victory after victory, going 3-1 over the weekend including a series victory over Francis Marion. FMU took the opener, 3-2, before the Pacers rebounded for 3-1 and 5-4 victories to finish the weekend. They picked up a Tuesday victory over Emmanuel, 17-4, as well.
Florida Southern (15-6): The Mocs have won seven straight after beating Winona State (4-2), sweeping Florida Tech (12-9, 5-3, 5-4) and beating Eckerd (12-8).
Belmont Abbey (21-4-1): Belmont Abbey owns the most victories of any Division II team so far this year as of this post, and have won 17 of their last 18 contests. They swept Pfeiffer in a three-game conference set over the weekend (10-3, 2-0 and 13-4) before splitting a doubleheader with Carson-Newman on the road on Tuesday (7-3 L, 5-3 W). They are currently 12-0 in Conference Carolinas play.
Lubbock Christian (16-5): The Chaps may be sneaking their way in to the Heartland Conference race unnoticed. LCU took two-of-three from Newman on the road over the weekend (4-3 L, 1-0 W, 10-6 W), including a gem from Guillaume Blanchette in the shutout, as he struck out nine and allowed only three hits in nine innings. They ended the week with a Monday victory over Bemidji State, 10-9.
CSU-Monterey Bay (15-3): The Otters didn't hit the field over the last week, but will get back in to CCAA play this weekend with four games against San Francisco State.
Missouri-St. Louis (10-1): After seven straight wins, it appears that UMSL may have something to say about the Midwest region race going forward. They just finished off a 5-0 Florida trip, beating Mansfield (5-3), Cedarville (35-10) (!), Upper Iowa (5-4), Cedarville again (7-4) and Minnesota-Crookston (20-8). In that 35-10 win, UMSL had two guys drive in six runs a piece as they collected 29 hits as a team. Three players crossed the plate five times each.
Lander (20-5): The Bearcats have now won 12 straight after sweeping a weekend series from GRU Augusta (10-4, 10-7, 8-4).
Indianapolis (11-3): The Greyhounds had a 3-1 weekend, beating Quincy twice (6-1 and 13-12) and splitting with Saginaw Valley State (4-3 W, 2-1 L).
Point Loma (15-5): The Sea Lions won both games on the road at Hawaii Hilo, 5-0 and 9-5 on Friday. The final two games of the series were cancelled due to rain.
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