There were some stellar match-ups over the weekend, but for the most part, the top teams in the most recent PerfectGame.org Top 25 held serve, as the top six in the rankings went a combined 14-6 between Thursday (Mar. 2) and Tuesday (Mar. 7). It is spring break for many of the schools around the nation, so there have been and will continue to be a bevy of non-conference games, but conference play is starting to sweep the nation for the most part.
First, our weekly disclaimer: THE TOP 25 RANKINGS BELOW ARE FROM PERFECTGAME.ORG'S WEEKLY RANKINGS AS OF LAST WEEK.
Alright, now that we got that out of the way - here is how the top 25 from last week fared over the weekend:
1. Tampa (12-4, 2-1 SSC): Tampa got a scare from #15 Flagler in their weekend series, as Flagler took game one, 4-2, but the Spartans rebounded for huge 11-4 and 16-3 victories to finish the series. UT surplussed that with a 16-1 victory over Rockhurst on Tuesday (Mar. 7).
2. Nova Southeastern (14-4, 5-1 SSC): The Sharks picked up a big series victory over #16 Lynn, grabbing 13-7 and 16-7 victories in the first two games of the weekend, before Lynn picked up a 10-6 win in the series finale. NSU notched a 19-7 victory in a single game on Monday (Mar. 6), but got caught for a 14-10 loss to Felician on Tuesday (Mar. 7).
3. USC Aiken (15-3, 6-0 PBC): The Pacers took on a solid Armstrong State team over the weekend in conference play and swept the Pirates away with 9-7, 7-2, and 12-9 (10 inn.) victories to continue their wonderful season thus far.
4. North Georgia (12-4, 2-1 PBC): UNG began conference play with a series victory over Lander, wearing a 9-5 loss to begin the weekend before picking up 3-1 and 8-1 victories to finish the weekend.
5. Dixie State (14-4, 3-1 PacWest): Dixie State got started in its PacWest schedule with a doubleheader split at home against Holy Names to begin the weekend, with a 9-2 victory and 12-9 loss. The Trailblazers improved from there, sweeping the second doubleheader, 23-5 and 7-3, to finish off a 3-1 weekend.
6. Emporia State (13-3, 3-0 MIAA): ESU split a doubleheader with #23 Quincy, dropping an 8-7 game and picking up a 19-7 victory, then capped off the three-game series on the road with a 14-2 win.
7. Minnesota State (4-4): The Mavericks have found their spring break schedule to be a bit of a haul up to this point. MSU began its trip with a 10-0 victory over Virginia-Wise, then took losses to Florida Southern (2-1) and Ashland (9-2), picked up victories over Ashland (14-0) and Lewis (4-3), but then dropped another two games to Grand Valley State (9-8 (10 inn.)) and Saint Leo (5-2). They'll play one more game in Florida on Wednesday (Mar. 8) against Walsh.
8. Colorado Mesa (11-5, 4-0 RMAC): CMU has upped its winning streak to six games after beginning RMAC play with an easy four-game sweep of Colorado Christian at home, 13-0, 14-1, 16-2 and 10-2.
9. Angelo State (12-2): The Rams pushed their winning streak to 12 over the weekend, beginning its series with 4-2, 7-3 and 5-3 victories over Eastern New Mexico before the run was snapped with a 12-9 loss to finish out the weekend.
10. Point Loma (10-3, 4-0 PacWest): PLNU began PacWest play with an impressive four-game sweep of a very good Hawaii Pacific team, 18-1, 6-2, 5-0 and 2-0.
11. Cal Poly Pomona (11-8, 7-1 CCAA): The Broncos took three-of-four over the weekend against conference foe Cal State San Bernardino, splitting the first two games at home with a 6-2 victory and 3-0 loss. CPP traveled to San Bernardino for the final two games of the weekend, picking up 7-3 and 3-2 victories.
12. West Florida (9-8, 5-4 GSC): UWF is treading water at just above .500 after a tough start to the conference season. The Argos split a doubleheader with North Alabama at home, with a 6-4 loss and a 4-3 victory, but UNA took the series victory after handing UWF a 6-2 loss to finish out the series.
13. Mercyhurst (8-1): The Lakers are riding a six-game winning streak after a successful weekend in Columbus, Ohio. 'Hurst swept Urbana in a doubleheader, 13-1 and 5-1, before ending its trip with a 6-0 victory against host Ohio Dominican.
14. Franklin Pierce (4-3): FPU swept its short two-game series on the road at Adelphi with 7-3 and 2-0 victories.
15. Flagler (14-5, 3-0 PBC): The Saints looked very good in a 4-2 victory over #1 Tampa to begin their weekend series, but Tampa did Tampa things in the doubleheader to end the weekend, handing Flagler 11-4 and 16-3 losses to finish the series.
16. Lynn (13-6, 4-2 SSC): Lynn dropped the first two games of its weekend against #2 Nova Southeastern, 13-7 and 16-7, but was able to salvage a 10-6 victory over the Sharks to finish out the series. The Fighting Knights used that momentum to pick up a 10-9 victory against Winona State on Sunday (Mar. 5) and a 6-3 victory over Wilmington on Tuesday (Mar. 7).
17. Azusa Pacific (13-1): APU is continuing to dominate, having won 12 straight games after a successful weekend. The Cougars traveled to Arizona over the weekend and picked up single-game victories against Concordia-St. Paul (14-6), Malone (3-0) and St. Cloud State (13-3).
18. Wayne State (Mich.) (6-4): The Warriors began their weekend with a solid 12-1 victory over Missouri-St. Louis and a 5-2 win over Illinois-Springfield, but UIS tagged Wayne State with 6-4 and 7-3 losses to finish out the weekend.
19. Southern Indiana (3-5): USI is still trying to find its footing on the young season, as the Screaming Eagles traveled to Trevecca Nazarene and wore a 7-4 loss and 6-3 loss before picking up a 9-3 victory to finish out the weekend. USI was set to face Georgia College on Tuesday (Mar. 7), but poor weather rendered that game cancelled.
20. Central Missouri (13-3, 5-1 MIAA): UCM continued conference play on the road at Pittsburg State and picked up a series victory. The Mules began the weekend with a 7-4 victory and ended the weekend with a 7-5 win. In-between, the Gorillas were able to tag UCM with a 13-6 loss.
21. Millersville (11-4): The Marauders had a solid weekend, sweeping Shepherd on the road in a doubleheader, 4-3 and 13-4, before splitting the second doubleheader of the weekend at home, with a 7-4 loss and a 1-0 victory. In the 1-0 win, Millersville held Shepherd to only one hit in the game, as David Manasek dominated the Rams with seven innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts.
22. Lubbock Christian (13-6): LCU was impressive in its final series before conference play begins, as the Chaps took all three games from St. Mary's in non-conference action, with 3-2, 2-0 and 11-4 victories on the road.
23. Quincy (7-5): The Hawks had a tough weekend at home, dropping two-of-three to Emporia State with an 8-7 victory and then 19-7 and 14-2 losses. QU followed that with a doubleheader split at home to Upper Iowa, with a 10-9 loss and an 11-2 win.
24. Henderson State (13-5, 7-2 GAC): HSU had a great GAC weekend, as the Reddies swept Harding in a three-game conference set, 5-3, 2-0 and 3-0. They picked up a 14-11 win over Ouachita Baptist on Monday (Mar. 6), but then fell to Union, 6-5, on Tuesday (Mar. 7) to have its five-game winning streak snapped.
25. Delta State (12-4, 6-2 GSC): The Statesmen notched an important series victory over Union on the weekend, tallying 10-8 and 13-2 victories around a 10-4 loss.
Outside of the PerfectGame.org Top 25 above, there are quite a few notable teams that are still rolling along and should be in the running for breaking in to the Top 25 in the rankings that should be released later this week. Those teams should include, in order of number of victories through games of March 5th, Francis Marion (17-2), Union (16-3), Chico State (15-4), Mount Olive (15-4), Erskine (15-5), Cameron (14-3), North Greenville (14-4), Lenoir-Rhyne (14-5), UC San Diego (13-3), Catawba (13-4), UNC Pembroke (13-5), Cal State Los Angeles (13-5), Lee (13-5), West Texas A&M (12-2), Central Oklahoma (12-3), and.......saving the most impressive for last so far...
Texas A&M-Kingsville, who is 11-0 so far this year, including victories against St. Mary's and Chico State. The level of competition for the Javelinas will turn up significantly this weekend with a series against West Texas A&M.
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