With the calendar changing to March the 2024 season is officially taking off the training wheels and hitting the highway. The next two weeks several teams have chock-full schedules with games being played in back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back days as a part of spring break trips to Florida. Nothing too exciting happened at the top of either of the three small school rankings this past week; however there have been some notable additions to both the DII and NAIA mix as noted below.
NCAA DII
The last time St. Leo was in the Perfect Game rankings was February 28th of 2019 when they were positioned 24th. They started the season 9-5 with three of their losses being slim defeats at the hands of Columbus State who was firmly entrenched in the top ten at the time. Unfortunately the Lions lost three of their next four series and haven’t been back in the Top 25 since. They’ve had some solid seasons, especially in 2022 when they went 36-17, but haven’t quite gained significant national consideration despite finishing third in the competitive Sunshine State Conference the last two seasons. Their absence has been remedied this week with the Lions pouncing into the rankings at the 18th position. The Lions are 13-2 on the young season and convincingly swept an excellent Barry ball club over the past weekend.
A big part of the Lions’ success has been their pitching staff, and a big part of the pitching staff’s success has been due to the incredible performance of senior starter Luke Lashutka. Wowee zowie has he been something special. Lashutka, who started his college career at St. Bonaventure, threw primarily out of the bullpen his first two seasons at Leo. This year in five starts he has accumulated 39 innings in which he has only allowed a scant 28 hits (.201 B/AVG) and a single earned run for a diminutive 0.23 ERA. He has 30 strikeouts while only issuing four walks. Lashutka’s dominating start has overshadowed the performance of Braden Heidel who is having a breakout season of his own. Heidel only managed a pair of starts last season and he had a rather robust 5.84 ERA over 57 innings back in 2022. He has slimmed down to a stylish 2.29 ERA this spring in his first four starts. Also dropping jaws has been the performance of graduate relief specialist Nick Jennings. Jennings held opposition to a .171 batting average last season as the team’s closer. In six appearances this year he had struck out 12 batters in only 5 ⅔ innings while only allowing a single hit.
Offensively the Lions are batting .292 as a team. They haven’t traditionally hit for a lot of power – last year they only totaled 29 home runs on the season, but they are very aggressive on the basepaths. In 2023 six Lions reached double-digit totals in steals with Buck Anderson’s 30 topping the team. Anderson is back this season along with a number of other players who are always looking to do what it takes to move another 90 feet closer to home. Dylan Mass is hitting .356 and has already stolen 13 bases – the team as a whole has already swiped 60 bases.
The Lions host 1-11 Kentucky Wesleyan this weekend, a team only batting .200 as a club with more strikeouts than hits. Look for St. Leo to continue their winning ways and continue to climb up the rankings.
Another team reappearing in the DII Perfect Game rankings after an extended hiatus is Grand Valley State. The Lakers were last in the Top 25 way back on May 18th of 2016. GVSU was a rankings regular under Steve Lyon from 1999 to 2012, but couldn’t achieve the same success under his successor. The early results under new Head Coach Jordan Keur, who most recently was an assistant at Western Michigan, look promising. They scored 47 runs in their opening series sweep of Gannon and won two of three against Indianapolis, a team which advanced to the 2023 DII Baseball Championships, last week. They can cement their status as a national contender this month. They’ll play a week in Florida at the RussMatt Invitational before playing a series at highly ranked Seton Hill.
| Rk | School | State | Record | Lst Wk | Prev |
| 1 | Tampa Spartans | FL | 17-0 | 4-0 | 1 |
| 2 | North Greenville Crusaders | SC | 16-3 | 3-1 | 2 |
| 3 | Point Loma Sea Lions | CA | 12-5-1 | 1-2-1 | 3 |
| 4 | Mount Olive Trojans | NC | 10-5 | 2-2 | 5 |
| 5 | Central Missouri Mules | MO | 15-3 | 4-0 | 8 |
| 6 | West Florida Argos | FL | 12-5 | 3-2 | 4 |
| 7 | UNC Pembroke Braves | NC | 15-3 | 3-1 | 7 |
| 8 | Young Harris Mountain Lions | GA | 14-4 | 1-3 | 6 |
| 9 | Seton Hill Griffins | PA | 6-3 | 3-1 | 9 |
| 10 | Millersville Marauders | PA | 10-3 | 3-1 | 13 |
| 11 | Missouri Southern St. Lions | MO | 17-4 | 3-1 | 12 |
| 12 | Angelo State Rams | TX | 13-8 | 4-1 | 14 |
| 13 | Colorado Mesa Mavericks | CO | 7-7 | 1-1 | 10 |
| 14 | Georgia Southwestern Hurricanes | GA | 13-5 | 2-2 | 11 |
| 15 | Cal State Monterey Bay Otters | CA | 10-6 | 3-1 | 16 |
| 16 | Augustana Vikings | SD | 6-2 | 4-0 | 17 |
| 17 | Southern Arkansas Muleriders | AR | 15-3 | 4-0 | NR |
| 18 | St. Leo Lions | FL | 13-2 | 4-0 | NR |
| 19 | Francis Marion Patriots | SC | 10-6 | 1-2 | 15 |
| 20 | West Texas A&M Buffs | TX | 13-5 | 2-2 | 21 |
| 21 | Lenoir-Rhyne Bears | NC | 13-6 | 1-2 | 20 |
| 22 | Texas Tyler Patriots | TX | 11-9 | 2-2 | 18 |
| 23 | Grand Valley State Lakers | MI | 6-1 | 2-1 | NR |
| 24 | Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks | ID | 12-4-1 | 2-2 | 23 |
| 25 | Ashland Eagles | OH | 5-1 | 2-1 | 25 |
Drop: Barry Bucs, Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes, Minnesota State Mavericks
NAIA
With a 17-5 start, which includes a series win over Taylor to start the season, a victory over Hope International and series wins over Arizona Christian and The Master’s the past two weeks, OUAZ has entered the Perfect Game national rankings for the first time after their surprisingly sensational start. The Spirit are still young as a program, with their first season being in 2018. It’s been an abrupt rise to prominence for OUAZ. In 2019 they struggled severely with a 6-45 overall record, and half of their wins were against the Cetys Universidad Zorros, a school in Mexicali, Mexico. The Spirit have yet to finish a season with a winning record, but that string should certainly end this season.
The team is batting .318 and is led by transfer Cristian Powell. The junior shortstop is batting .367 with two doubles, three triples and three home runs. Joey Winters, who batted .324 last season, has 26 hits for a .321 average. On the mound Evan Massie and Connor Wilson have combined to strike out 58 batters in 56 innings. A big difference maker both on the mound and the plate has been transfer Brayden Marcum. It’s still early, but opposition has yet to score on him in a pair of bullpen appearances. At the plate he’s already hit a pair of home runs in only seven at bats.
The Spirit’s upcoming schedule is not easy. They have Jessup, a team which was strongly considered for inclusion in this week’s rankings, followed up with series against Vanguard and Hope International. If they can win two of those series, OUAZ will officially emerge as a dark horse candidate to advance to Lewiston. That’s pretty amazing especially considering they finished 2023 by losing nine of their last ten games.
Another team to watch this week is resurgent Faulkner. The Eagles’ position in the preseason top ten, despite their poor performance in 2023, was shown to be warranted last week with a series win on the road against William Carey. The wins moved them up to the sixth position in the rankings with a 15-5 record.
Few pitchers have dominated as much as Nicholas Graham this spring. The senior has a 1.93 ERA over six appearances and has struck out 45 batters in only 23 ⅓ innings. He has only allowed 16 hits and issued just seven walks so far – although six of them were last week in a loss to the WCU Crusaders. On offense Orlando Lordy has continued the torrid hitting he started while playing for Benedictine-Mesa. He is batting .400 with seven doubles and five home runs. Juan Trinidad, who hit .312 his first two seasons, has elevated his game and is batting .369 and already has four home runs despite not hitting a single homer in 282 at bats from 2022-23.
The Eagles face another strong team this week when they welcome Loyola into town. The Wolf Pack has a 14-3 record following their series win at Blue Mountain and moved into the top ten.
Another perennial power making moves is Oklahoma City. The Stars were one of the last teams left out of the initial rankings and they’ve demonstrated their omission was not warranted. They have significant wins over Concordia (NE), Bellevue, Columbia, Central Methodist and Freed-Hardeman, and quality losses to Doane and MidAmerica Nazarene. The teams is retooled from last season and lost their dominant ace, but the Stars always field a quality squad.
| Rk | School | State | Record | Lst Wk | Prev |
| 1 | Southeastern Fire | FL | 16-2 | 2-0 | 1 |
| 2 | Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies | GA | 16-2 | 2-1 | 2 |
| 3 | LSU Shreveport Pilots | LA | 16-2 | 3-0 | 3 |
| 4 | Lewis-Clark State Warriors | ID | 9-3 | 4-0 | 5 |
| 5 | Cumberlands Patriots | KY | 14-3 | 4-1 | 4 |
| 6 | Faulkner Eagles | AL | 15-5 | 5-2 | 7 |
| 7 | Doane Tigers | NE | 13-1 | 4-0 | 11 |
| 8 | Central Methodist Eagles | MO | 15-3 | 4-0 | 12 |
| 9 | William Carey Crusaders | MS | 10-8 | 1-2 | 8 |
| 10 | Loyola Wolf Pack | LA | 14-3 | 3-1 | 14 |
| 11 | Missouri Baptist Spartans | MO | 11-7 | 1-3 | 9 |
| 12 | Concordia Bulldogs | NE | 10-4 | 2-1 | 15 |
| 13 | Benedictine Mesa Redhawks | AZ | 12-5 | 4-1 | 19 |
| 14 | Vanguard Lions | CA | 13-8 | 0-3 | 6 |
| 15 | Bellevue Bruins | NE | 7-7 | 1-0 | 18 |
| 16 | Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs | TN | 9-9 | 0-3 | 10 |
| 17 | Webber International Warriors | FL | 17-3 | 4-0 | 24 |
| 18 | Reinhardt Eagles | GA | 12-7 | 3-0 | 23 |
| 19 | Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes | KS | 11-7 | 0-3 | 16 |
| 20 | Taylor Trojans | IN | 10-8 | 4-1 | 20 |
| 21 | Hope International Royals | CA | 10-8 | 0-1 | 17 |
| 22 | Oklahoma City Stars | OK | 14-8 | 3-1 | NR |
| 23 | Freed-Hardeman Lions | TN | 16-3 | 2-2 | 22 |
| 24 | Ottawa (OUAZ) Spirit | AZ | 17-5 | 2-1 | NR |
| 25 | Keiser Seahawks | FL | 14-4 | 1-2 | 25 |
NCAA DIII
Still not much movement in the DIII rankings overall. No teams have been added or dismissed from the Top 25 as of yet with so many schools playing a light February schedule. Only four schools in the rankings have played at least ten games and one has yet to take to the diamond. A plethora of schools are heading south during spring break which should finally shake things up, but for now the positions are pretty steady.
As anticipated, Johns Hopkins looked much more like the preseason pick to take home the title this week. After struggling to start the season, JHU mauled Juniata in a double-header with a combined score of 26-4. They’ll face a much more formidable opponent this weekend as they’ll host Salisbury on Sunday. Their season will really start rolling next week with a trip to Florida. They play one of the stronger schedules in the RussMatt with games against Webster, Bethel, Endicott, Wisconsin-La Crosse, Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Augustana (IL). By the end of the month we’ll definitely have a better gauge of how good this Blue Jay team can be.
With a pair of wins over Eastern Connecticut State last week, Shenandoah has probably played the best ball overall so far this season. They also split a pair of games with Misericordia and have a 9-1 record.
A great matchup planned for last Sunday was unfortunately canceled. The #23 Benedictine Eagles were supposed to play #24 Buena Vista but the weather didn’t cooperate. The senior laden Eagles have two convincing wins to start the season and the Beavers were the victors in six of their first seven.
| Rk | School | State | Record | Lst Wk | Prev |
| 1 | Johns Hopkins Blue Jays | MD | 3-2 | 2-0 | 1 |
| 2 | East Texas Baptist Tigers | TX | 9-3 | 3-0 | 2 |
| 3 | Endicott Gulls | MA | 3-0 | 3-0 | 3 |
| 4 | Shenandoah Hornets | VA | 9-1 | 4-0 | 4 |
| 5 | Misericordia Cougars | PA | 4-3 | 3-1 | 8 |
| 6 | Eastern Connecticut Warriors | CT | 0-3 | 0-3 | 5 |
| 7 | Rowan Profs | NJ | 1-1 | 1-1 | 6 |
| 8 | Lynchburg Hornets | VA | 5-4 | 1-2 | 7 |
| 9 | Christopher Newport Captains | VA | 8-3 | 2-1 | 9 |
| 10 | Cortland State Red Dragons | NY | 4-4 | 1-0 | 13 |
| 11 | UW LaCrosse Eagles | WI | 0-0 | 0-0 | 11 |
| 12 | Salisbury Seagulls | MD | 5-3 | 1-1 | 10 |
| 13 | Marietta Pioneers | OH | 1-4 | 0-0 | 12 |
| 14 | Salve Regina Seahawks | RI | 5-1 | 3-0 | 14 |
| 15 | Birmingham-Southern Panthers | AL | 8-2 | 3-1 | 15 |
| 16 | Denison Big Red | OH | 5-1 | 3-0 | 17 |
| 17 | Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets | OH | 4-2 | 1-1 | 16 |
| 18 | Aurora Spartans | IL | 5-0 | 3-0 | 20 |
| 19 | Case Western Reserve Spartans | OH | 5-2 | 1-2 | 18 |
| 20 | Montclair State Red Hawks | NJ | 5-1 | 3-0 | 21 |
| 21 | UW-Whitewater Warhawks | WI | 2-2 | 2-2 | 19 |
| 22 | La Verne Leopards | CA | 6-1 | 2-1 | 22 |
| 23 | Benedictine Eagles | IL | 2-0 | 2-0 | 23 |
| 24 | Buena Vista Beavers | IA | 6-1 | 1-0 | 25 |
| 25 | Washington Bears | MO | 6-3 | 1-2 | 24 |