DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: May 17

Photo: Luke Napleton (Denny Sinnock)

Each of the three small school divisions have completed their regular season schedules and conference tournaments and only the best of the best still have games to play. The national tournament for the NAIA began its opening round on Tuesday with 46 teams playing in 10 regions across the country hoping to advance to Lewison, Idaho and compete for the title. The 56 NCAA D-II teams and 60 D-III schools looking to make their way into the final eight begin this week on May 18 and 19th respectively. Cary, North Carolina is the destination for the D-II Baseball Championship and the D-III finals will be played in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Along with the latest rankings is a look at each division’s regions and the schools looking to advance. 

NCAA D-II 

RankSchoolPrev Rk.StateOverall Rec.Week Rec.
1Tampa Spartans3FL40-93-0
2Quincy Hawks2IL44-94-0
3North Greenville Crusaders1SC44-80-0
4Colorado Mesa Mavericks4CO45-94-0
5Angelo State Rams5TX47-83-0
6Central Missouri Mules6MO41-133-0
7West Florida Argos13FL37-153-0
8Mount Olive Trojans9NC36-150-0
9Millersville Marauders8PA40-80-1
10Southern Arkansas Muleriders17AR39-163-0
11Newberry Wolves7SC41-130-3
12Seton Hill GriffinsNRPA44-104-0
13Rollins Tars10FL34-160-3
14Montevallo Falcons14AL38-140-0
15UNC Pembroke Braves15NC38-150-0
16Wayne State Warriors19MI42-114-1
17Cal State Monterey Bay Otters21CA36-163-1
18Illinois Springfield Prairie Stars16IL35-130-2
19East Stroudsburg Warriors11PA35-120-1
20Azusa Pacific CougarsNRCA34-173-0
21Minnesota State Mavericks12MN39-154-2
22Valdosta State Blazers22GA33-180-2
23Metro State Roadrunners18CO42-122-2
24Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes20CA38-173-2
25Columbus St. Cougars23GA36-150-0

Dropped: Point Loma, Wingate

West Region
Teams: CSUMB, Cal State San Bernardino, Azusa Pacific, Point Loma, Cal Poly Pomona, Western Oregon 

Cal State Monterey Bay and Cal State San Bernardino have played each other seven times this season and the winner of each contest has flipped one to the other with each outcome. The Otters won both the regular season and conference tournament, but the Coyotes had the higher slash statistics on offense, a lower ERA, held opposition to a lower batting average, and had the higher fielding percentage.  It’s a total toss-up between the two. 

Instead of determining if the Otters or Coyotes will be triumphant, I’m going to go in another direction. Azusa Pacific most recently won two games over Point Loma to win the PacWest tournament, but Loma took three of four over Pacific in the regular season and won the conference regular season title. Consequently I’m going to go with Point Loma to win the West Region for the second year in a row. Their offense is mighty with Jackob Christian and Scott Anderson leading the way. Christian  is second in D-II with 26 home runs and is batting .410. Anderson is hitting .405 and leading the team with 15 doubles. Together they have painstakingly amassed 27 HBPs. Sophomore Ray Cebulski could be a difference maker in the region. He threw a one-hit shutout against Azusa in early April.

Southeast Region
Teams: 
North Greenville, Newberry, Belmont Abbey, Mount Olive, Georgia Southwestern, Columbus State, UNC Pembroke

North Greenville had been the top team all season, but were jumped by both Tampa and Quincy in this week’s penultimate rankings. While the Spartans and Hawks finished strong, the Crusaders went 0-2 in their conference tournament with one of the losses being by mercy rule. Alas, sometimes a loss is just what a team needs to keep their edge as they get a reminder that they are not infallible on the field. 

I’m predicting that the humbling losses were just what the doctor ordered to keep them focused. I expect NGU to rebound and refocus and earn another trip to Cary. John Michael Faile II has had a strong second half of the season and tied the D-II record for career home runs. The way he has been swinging of late, he’ll have the crown to himself soon.

South Region
Teams: 
Tampa, West Florida, Montevallo, Rollins, Valdosta St, Barry, Florida Southern, Spring Hill

Both West Florida and Tampa finished the season strong. The Argos swept #22 Valdosta State at the end of the regular season before capturing the Gulf South tournament title. The Sunshine State conference doesn’t have a tournament so the Spartans instead scheduled an away series with Newberry to prepare for the postseason. Tampa ended up convincingly sweeping the #11 Wolves while scoring double-digit runs in each of the contests. With the wins Tampa took over the number one national ranking. Drew Ehrhard established a new school record for career hits in the wins. 

Despite being the home team and top seed, Tampa is vulnerable. They went 1-4 against the #4 and #5 seeds in the region, Rollins and Valdosta St. They did however go a convincing 6-0 against Barry and FSC. With Spring Hill their first opponent the Spartans can save their top pitchers for more demanding competition. I anticipate Tampa to advance to Cary once again.

South Central Region
Teams: 
Angelo St, Colorado Mesa, St. Edwards, UT Tyler, MSU Denver, Lubbock Christian

While Angelo State has been in the top five of the rankings the entire season, Colorado Mesa slowly and steadily gained ground throughout the spring and moved a position ahead of the Rams a few weeks ago. Both teams are now solidly entrenched in the top five and should easily win their respective regions. 

Both teams excel on all facets of the game. They hit for both average and power, have speed and are aggressive on the basepaths, are solid on defense with strong catchers and have deep and talented pitching staffs.  This choice is a real toss-up. I’m going to ultimately go with the Rams this year based on them having home-field advantage. ASU has won three of the last four games against CMU with each being played in San Angelo. If the games were being played in Grand Junction or a neutral field, I’d probably pick the Mavs. If Mesa does win, freshman hurler Liam Hohenstein will likely be a big part of the reason. 

East Region
Teams: 
Southern New Hampshire, Goldey-Beacom, Le Moyne, Franklin Pierce, Pace, Queens (NY), Felician

Southern New Hampshire easily won the NE10 regular season title as they went 23-1 with their only loss being a 4-3 7-inning defeat to Franklin Pierce.  In the conference tournament’s opening round the two-time defending champs were surprisingly upended in a single-game play-in. Nonetheless, the Penmen will be the team to beat and if any other school advances, it will be an upset. 

SNHU is averaging nearly ten runs per contest while allowing less than four. Their offense is slugging .538 while the next best team in their conference is a .458. Nick Schwartz is batting .412 with 12 home runs and Danniel Rivera has a .380 average with 46 stolen bases. On the mound their team ERA is 3.46 while the next school is at 4.26. Josh Roberge has struck out 87 batters in 67 innings while only allowing 53 hits. 

Central Region
Teams: 
Central Missouri, Missouri Southern, Southern Arkansas, Ouachita Baptist, Augustana (SD), Minnesota St, Arkansas Tech, St. Cloud State

Central Missouri did not lose a series the entire season and hasn’t lost a weekend game in a month. They had no problems during the MIAA postseason as they easily won each of their games and took the title with a 15-0 drubbing of Missouri Southern in the championship. However I don’t think that winning the region will be as straightforward.  

I think the Great American Conference and Northern Sun competition will be at a higher level than the Mules have seen the bulk of the season in the MIAA, especially on the mound. If this group of eight teams were to play this region ten times I’d reckon Central Missouri would win the bulk of them, but to make things interesting I’m going to go with a surprise pick, Augustana.  The Vikings rely heavily on a small core of players on offense, but have a solid pitching staff able to keep games close. Closer Adam Diedrich is tied for the lead nationally with 12 saves. 

Midwest Region
Teams: 
Quincy, Illinois Springfield, Maryville (MO), Wayne St, Northwood, Ashland, UIndy

All in on Quincy in the Midwest. Luke Napleton is leading D-II with 27 home runs while batting .359. On the mound Kobe Essien has 61 strikeouts in 44 ⅔ innings while limiting opposition to a .224 batting average. Would I be surprised if UIS or another team advanced, absolutely. Would I be shocked? No, provided it is either the Prairie Stars or WSU who advances. 

Atlantic Region
Teams: 
Millersville, Seton Hill, East Stroudsburg, Charleston (WV), West Chester, Mercyhurst, Shippensburg

I was on team East Stroudsburg before jumping on the Millersville bandwagon after the Warriors dropped series in two straight weekends. Now I’m all about Seton Hill. 

I’ve admittedly severely underrated Seton Hill all season long. While they don’t have a lot of power, they hit well for average and are very aggressive on the basepaths. Freshman Jack Whalen is batting .339 and has stolen 45 bases which is tied for second nationally. Their sole slugger is Jack Whalen who is batting .339 and leading the team with 13 home runs – although Braden Durham has pretty good pop as well. He has seven home runs and is hitting .338. 

The Griffin pitching staff has thrown ELEVEN shutouts on the season, including one to earn their third PSAC Championship. Jon McCullough has four complete games, a 2.32 ERA and is holding opposition to a .190 batting average. Brandon Bergert has earned a team leading 80 strikeouts in 64 ⅓ innings and has a 2.66 ERA. Out of the bullpen Blake Barker has a 0.40 ERA, been a part of seven of the shutout and is limiting opposition to a .165 average with a 0.84 WHIP. 

NAIA 

RankSchoolPrev Rk.StateOverall Rec.Week Rec.
1Southeastern Fire1FL52-40-0
2Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies2GA47-51-0
3LSU Shreveport Pilots3LA44-80-2
4Cumberlands Patriots4KY46-60-0
5Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs5TN42-90-0
6Bellevue Bruins6NE45-81-0
7Westmont Warriors7CA40-80-0
8Hope International Royals8CA33-90-0
9Missouri Baptist Spartans9MO42-70-0
10William Carey Crusaders10MS44-90-0
11Webber International Warriors11FL40-150-0
12Doane Tigers12NE42-101-0
13Benedictine Mesa Redhawks13AZ42-120-0
14Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes14KS42-130-0
15Mobile Rams15AL35-130-0
16Vanguard Lions16CA33-160-0
17Cumberland Phoenix17TN35-13-10-0
18Freed-Hardeman Lions18TN37-190-0
19McPherson Bulldogs19KS36-140-0
20Central Methodist Eagles20MO34-170-0
21Reinhardt Eagles22GA33-180-0
22Texas Wesleyan Rams23TX36-130-0
23Columbia CougarsNRMO38-130-0
24Oklahoma City Stars25OK30-191-0
25Concordia Bulldogs24NE38-160-1

Dropped: Lewis-Clark State

Bellevue Bracket
Teams: 
Bellevue, Doane, Oklahoma City, Grand View

The top seeded and host Bellevue has played Oklahoma City twice already this season and won both contests. However those games were back in early February, and the Stars have been much better the second half of the season. OCU was an unimpressive 16-16 at the start of April, but finished 14-3 with series wins over SAGU and Science and Arts as well as swept through the Sooner Athletic Conference in which they scored over 12 runs per game. 

Despite Doane’s campus being about 80 minutes away from Bellevue, the Tigers and the Bruins didn’t tangle in the regular season. Doane has tied their school record for wins with a solid offense and has two high quality starting pitchers. If they can hold off the Stars in the opening round they should match up well against Bellevue.

While the Bruins had a strong out of conference schedule, their opposition in the North Star Athletic Association has allowed them to coast since the second week of March following their win over top ranked SEU.

While Bellevue is likely the best team of the group overall, I’m going to pick Doane either or OCU to advance out of this region as they’ve been the hotter teams down the stretch with more impactful games. In a surprise pick I’m going with OCU. Their duo of Tyler Polk and Eli Davis, two pitchers who previously threw in the Big 12, propels them to the upset region win. 

Fayette Bracket
Teams: 
Southeastern, Kansas Wesleyan, Central Methodist, Madonna, St. Franics

Southeastern has been the number one team all season with a monster offense that is slashing .358/.461/.643 with 124 stolen bases and a pitching staff that has a 2.73  ERA and is holding opposition to a .210 batting averaging while striking out 634 batters in 459 innings. Going all in on SEU on this one despite the Fire being forced to play far from home.  

SEU’s shortstop Isaac Nunez is such a beast. He is batting .440 with 14 doubles, 15 home runs and 20 stolen bases. Aside from the first game of the year when he went 1-3 with a walk, his batting average has not been below .431 at any point this spring.

Hattiesburg Bracket
Teams: 
William Carey, Texas Wesleyan, Ave Maria, Union, Houston-Victoria

Of the five teams in the bracket, only Willam Carey has spent the entire season in the Perfect Game rankings, and Texas Wesleyan is the only other team of the five which has been in the Top 25 at all this spring. The Crusaders are the home team for the region and haven’t had to travel away from home since April 23rd as their final regular season series and the SSAC Tournament were played on their home field. I like Willam Carey to win the bracket but be tested by the Rams. 

Kingsport Bracket
Teams:
 Webber International, Missouri Baptist, Bryan (TN), Indiana Wesleyan

This four team bracket is one of the most evenly distributed in terms of talent and no matter who wins it won’t be a shock. Even fourth seeded Indiana Wesleyan has proven they can play with the best of the best as they earned wins over Georgia Gwinnett and Cumberland to start the year. Webber had a win over top ranked SEU, but also had three mercy rule losses to the Fire so they can be both very, very good as well as very, very beatable. Bryan wasn’t ranked at any point during the season, but had some very big wins throughout the season and advanced to the AAC Tournament Championship. Of the four I believe they played the best schedule to prepare for the postseason. I was admittedly late to stamp Missouri Baptist as legit despite a secret affinity for the American Midwest Conference and still have reservations despite them having one of the top winning percentages nationally. I just don’t trust their pitching depth.

I really want to make IWU my dark horse and pick them to win the region, but seeing how they went 10-7 to finish the year I can’t pull the trigger on making them my pick. I’ll take Bryan as an upset to advance instead.Parker Cosby is the rare catcher who bats lead off. He is batting .364 and can also play infield.

Lawrenceville Bracket
Teams: 
Georgia Gwinnett, Freed-Hardeman, Concordia (NE), Midway, St. Xavier

The Grizzlies have been in my top three all reason long and spent the bulk of the year as my number two team pick in the NAIA. The only knock against them is that they haven’t played a competitive game in over a month – only twice since April 1st has a team been within five runs of their final score. GGC to advance to Lewiston once again. 

Ajay Sczepkowski has a chance to reach the 100 RBI mark before the season is over.  He is currently batting .425 with 29 home runs and 93 RBI with 36 stolen bases.

Lewiston Bracket
Teams: 
Hope International, Science and Arts, Concordia (MI), Lewis-Clark State

This is probably my pick as the weakest opening round bracket overall. Science and Arts are good, but a step down from previous years. Concordia is an absolute enigma. They have a 46-8 record, but also a strength of schedule in the bottom five percent of NAIA teams. Lewis-Clark State is only in the tournament because they are the host institution for the NAIA World Series.  They deserve credit for playing SEU, LSU Shreveport and three other Sun Conference to start the season, but underperformed in the Cascade Conference where they finished fourth out of seven in the regular season standings and went 1-2 in the tournament. Their talent level is much better than that – very much better.   

Hope International has been a top ten team the entire season. It is their region to lose. Hector Garcia is one of the NAIA’s top pitchers. He has a 1.93 ERA and 87 strikeouts in only 51 ⅓ innings while only allowing 27 hits. Wow.

Williamsport Bracket
Teams: Cumberlands, Mobile, Columbia, Reinhardt

Absolutely positively going with Cumberlands in this bracket. They’ve been in my top four all season long with a 48-6 record. They are hitting over .350 as a team with tons of power at the plate. They’ll have eight players with double-digit home runs by the time they arrive in Lewiston, with two players, Max Harper and Charlie Muniz, who are both hitting over .400 with 20+ home runs. Their pitching staff is excellent as well. Few players can match Knicko Billings’s 0.99 WHIP over 67 innings or in coolness of a name.

Santa Barbara Bracket
Teams: 
Westmont, Benedictine-Mesa (AZ), Vanguard, British Columbia, Antelope Valley

The Santa Barbara bracket is balanced with three teams in the Perfect Game Top 25, and two very underrated teams nationally in British Columbia and Antelope Valley.  It’s another region where no matter who wins the group it won’t be a shock. 

The home field advantage is huge for Westmont as they are a much better 25-3 than they are on the road at 12-5; however it was UAV who gave them one of those losses. 

Not feeling great about any of these teams, but going to go with Benedictine Mesa. I like their trio of Dylan Bangs, Orlando Lorduy and Kevin Fitzgerald to create runs and fluster pitchers.  Bangs is batting .431 with 18 doubles, seven triples and nine home runs. Lourduy’s .414 is second on the team and he also has 18 doubles and nine home runs along with 20 stolen bases. Fitzgerald has a .413 average, 17 doubles, six triples and five home runs.

Shreveport Bracket
Teams: 
LSU Shreveport, McPherson, Morningside, MidAmerica Nazarene (KS), Dillard

LSU Shreveport had two unexpected losses in the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament, but prior to that they had won 25 games in a row and have clobbered opposition all year long. They’ve spent all but one week in the top five of the Perfect Game NAIA rankings, while McPherson’s current placement at 19th is their season best and Morningside only made a cameo at 25 two weeks ago.  This is the Pilot’s bracket to lose. I see their stumble in the RRAC tournament as a wake-up call and reminder that there is still work to be done. LSUS easily wins and advances.

Upland Bracket
Teams:
 Tennessee Wesleyan, Taylor, Cumberland, Point Park, Fisher

Like LSU Shreveport, Tennessee Wesleyan has been a mainstay in the top five of the rankings, but stumbled in their conference tournament. I don’t foresee them having trouble with any of the other schools in this region, but wouldn’t be shocked to see Cumberland give them a scare with their prolific offense that has four sluggers with at least 16 home runs. Actually, just to make it interesting, I’m going to take Cumberland over the Bulldogs in this one. The two teams split two games during the regular season (although TWU won one of them 26-4). The Phoenix offense has overshadowed the fact that the team has some really good pitchers as well. Trevor Muzzi is limiting opposition to a .208 batting average and Mitch Rogers has 71 strikeouts in only 52 ⅓ innings in a dual role.

NCAA D-III 

RankSchoolPrev Rk.StateOverall Rec.Week Rec.
1Johns Hopkins Blue Jays1MD39-40-0
2Salisbury Seagulls2MD30-51-0
3Lynchburg Hornets5VA38-64-0
4Birmingham-Southern Panthers4AL36-90-0
5Shenandoah Hornets3VA38-72-2
6Endicott Gulls6MA39-64-1
7Aurora Spartans8IL39-44-1
8Arcadia Knights13PA32-124-1
9Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets7OH31-100-2
10Denison Big Red14OH34-83-0
11East Texas Baptist Tigers11TX35-110-0
12Christopher Newport Captains10VA31-90-1
13Eastern Connecticut Warriors18CT34-104-0
14UW LaCrosse Eagles24WI31-93-0
15Marietta Pioneers12OH34-113-2
16Rowan Profs16NJ30-130-0
17Salve Regina Seahawks15RI37-8-14-2
18Wheaton Lyons19MA37-62-0
19UW-Stevens Point Pointers9WI29-110-2
20NC Wesleyan Batting Bishops22NC35-82-0
21Penn State Harrisburg Lions20PA33-103-1
22Tufts JumbosNRMA31-93-0
23Cortland State Red DragonsNRNY32-113-2
24Augustana VikingsNRIL38-74-1
25Trinity Tigers25TX28-140-0

Dropped: Randolph-Macon, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Catholic

Baltimore Region: Johns Hopkins, Randolph Macon, St. John Fisher, Penn St Altoona; New London Region: Wheaton (MA), Tufts, Mitchell, Husson  

John Hopkins has been a wrecking ball a season and demolished competition. Randolph Macon was looking good mid-season, but had struggled late going 6-8 to end the year. None of these schools should be able to upset the Blue Jays.

Cortland Region: Cortland, Ithaca, Eastern Conn St., St. Joseph’s (LI); Bridgewater Region: Endicott, Middlebury, JWU (Providence), Bridgewater St.

Despite Cortland hosting and being a favorite to win their side of the bracket, I’m picking Ithaca to be the team to advance to face the Bridgewater Region winner. The Bombers have a potent offense led by Garrett Callaghan who is batting .384 with 14 home runs.

Endicott has been in the top ten of the Perfect Game rankings for the entirety of the season and for good reason. The Gulls enter the NCAA postseason with a 39-6 record which included its second straight Commonwealth Coast Conference title. Notable wins include four over Salve Regina, two against La Verne, as well as victories over Eastern Connecticut State and Tufts. 

Marietta Region: Marietta, Mary Washington, CWRU, Adrian; Dallas (PA) Region: Salve Regina, Misericordia, Wash & Jeff, Keystone

Since April 1st, Salve Region has won all of their games against schools not named Endicott and have set a new school record for wins in a season. While Marietta and Misericordia have put together excellent seasons as well, I don’t see either of them, or any other school in the region, advancing over the Seahawks. Regina is just too good on the mound with the trio of Sean Mulligan, Graham Jeffries and Brayden Clark. In a tournament set-up such as this, having three solid starters is a real difference maker. Their offense is solid as well with a team .335 batting average.

Grandville Region: Denison, Baldwin Wallace, Spalding, Beloit; Aurora Region: Aurora, John Carroll

This set of six teams could be the strongest of any group. Denison, BW and Aurora are all positioned in the top ten of Perfect Game’s rankings. Spalding was one of the last team’s out with their 34-10 record and SLIAC title, John Carroll took series from Baldwin Wallace and Marietta in their most recent action and the Beloit Buccaneers won the both the Midwest Conference regular season and tournament titles.  Each team is capable of advancing.

I’m going to take a dark horse in this group and go with Spalding. They have an excellent pitching staff lead by Wesley Clark who has a 1.29 ERA and limiting opposition to a .131 batting average over 49 innings. Caleb Collins is formidable as well with his 2.18 ERA, 84 strikeouts and three complete games. On offense Michael Newsom is hitting .392 with 12 doubles, eight triples and 24 stolen bases.

La Crosse Region: Wis La Crosse, Buena Vista, Bethel, Bethany Lutheran; Stevens Point Region: Wis Stevens Point, Webster, Loras, Augustana (IL)

The two Wisconsin teams are the absolute favorites to advance out of this octet, but I want to choose an underdog out of this group.

Had Bethel finished the regular season stronger I’d give the senior laden club my pick to advance, but they lost double-headers to both Gustavus Adolphus and Concordia (MN) earlier this month (although they did beat both in the MIAC Playoffs). I like Webster quite a bit as they’ve rebounded from a slow start to finish the regular season strong, but the Gorlocks dropped two games in the SLIAC tournament and were one of the last team’s into the tournament so that makes me hesitant that they can finish. 

I’ll go with Augustana (IL) here. Their strength of schedule leaves something to be desired, but it’s hard to argue against a team that has gone 38-7. Pitchingwise few teams can compare to the starting trio of Harrison Boushele, Jacob Reusch and Josh Wintroub. Each has a sub 2.50 ERA and they’ve collectively struck out 266 batters in 182 ⅓ innings. 

Winchester Region: Shenandoah,  Chris. Newport, Immaculata, TCNJ; Rocky Mount Region: Lynchburg, NC Wesleyan, Elizabethtown, Lebanon Valley

Lynchburg started the season positioned 16th in the preseason rankings and moved into the top five half-way through the season. They closed the season strong by winning two of three over Bridewater in the ODAC opening round, and then shutout Randolph-Macon and took two from Shenandoah to win the conference tournament. They have the talent and temperament to win this region and will be my choice to advance. 

Brenton Jones is batting .345 with eight home runs to lead the offense, and Zach Potts is the team’s starting pitcher. He had a 2.43 ERA and 81 strikeouts over 13 starts. However the MVP of the team is reliever Jack Bachmore. He has appeared in 23 games and often throws multiple innings. He had a 6-1 record with 11 saves and a 1.41 ERA. He has only allowed 45 hits in 63 ⅔ innings while only allowing 45 hits and 18 walks.

Birmingham Region: Birmingham Southern, La Vern, Franklin, Lewis & Clark; Marshall Region: East Texas Baptist, Pacific (OR), Trinity (TX), Cal Lutheran

I’m big on both East Texas and Birmingham Southern in this group of schools.  East Texas Baptist set a program record for wins and won both the American Southwest Conference Tournament regular season and tournament title. Meanwhile BSC has been in the top ten all season long and spent a month as the number one team. They won a series over Trinity (TX) early in the year (who is also in the group) and also had noteworthy wins over La Grange, ETBU, Webster, Adrian, Emory and Wisconsin Whitewater. 

I like the Panthers’ overall body of work more and will go with them to advance to Cedar Rapids, especially since they are an impressive 18-2 at home.

Ambler Region: Arcadia, Rowan, SUNY Brockport, Susquehanna; Middletown Region: Salisbury, Penn St. Harrisburg

Salisbury was my number one pick to take home the title at the beginning of the season and I’m going to stick with the Sea Gulls to return to Cedar Rapids. They’ve been my overall number one or two the entire spring. They have a 30-5 overall record and all but one of their losses were to teams in the national tournament – including the school who’ll they’ll face in the opening round, Penn St. Harrisburg. 

If I had to choose another school in the group, I’d go with Rowan. They haven’t performed quite as well as anticipated as I had them in my top ten to start the season, but they’ll still pretty gosh darn good. Phil Sedalis is hitting .430 with 12 doubles and eight triples, and Tyler Cannon is second on the team with a .381 average while leading the nation with 27 doubles. Zach Grace has been excellent on the mound for the Profs with a 2.98 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 66 ⅓ innings with two shutouts. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *